Open Country near Okegawa Station, no. 7 from the series The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaido

By 1925, purchased in Japan by Frank Lloyd Wright; ca. 1926, acquired by The Bank of Wisconsin; 1928, sold to Edward Burr Van Vleck (Madison, WI); 1943, passed through inheritance to Edward’s son, John H. Van Vleck (Madison, WI); 9 January 1980, bequeathed by John H. Van Vleck to the Elvehjem Museum of Art [now called Chazen Museum of Art]

• Elvehjem Museum of Art. "The Edward Burr Van Vleck Collection of Japanese Prints." Madison: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 1990. p. 75

This colorful print depicts a scene of rural life during harvest season along the bank of water-covered rice field. On the left side of the print is a wooden structure with a thatched roof. A large mound of bundled rice straw is visible through the window and tobacco leaves hang from the eaves. In front of the structure is a spindly tree with long branches leaning to the right, with bundles of rice straw leaning against its trunk. Inside the structure, a figure wearing green garments holds a long pipe to their mouth, kneeling towards a black kettle, possibly in the act of lighting the pipe. Outside of the structure, to the right, is a figure wearing a grey garment with blue stripes and a white hat or scarf. This figure kneels on a mat and hulls rice into a pail. Another figure, with a bald head and stooped posture, stands to the right and appears to be interacting with the figure hulling rice. This figure wears dark pants, a blue cloak, and carries a red pack on their back. They hold a round straw hat in one hand, and points behind them with the other, as if asking for directions. On right side of the print, a figure sits sideways on a brown horse and faces the horizon. An expansive rice paddy, mostly covered in water dotted with tall green grasses, fills the background. 

• Asia
• Prints
• E. B. Van Vleck Collection of Japanese Prints
• Alt Text Accessible

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