Lone Tree at Sunset

A recurring theme in Araki’s work is the isolated, wizened tree. Among his last works, this half-height panel shows a single evergreen tree perched on a rocky outcropping. Between the foreground tree and distant peaks at upper right and left is a vast expanse of mist glowing in the last light of the day. Bands of ink, azurite blue, ocher, and cinnabar, flow across the width of the narrow composition and shimmer with highlights of gold and the mineral mica. The fact that the Chinese characters for his surname, Araki, mean “wild tree” may partially account for the prevalence of this subject matter in his body of work, particularly late in life, when it seems to have become a preoccupation.