ART. pac2 –miquelangel castillo (see section 2)
Section 1. Elaboration on the motifs of eight images
1.A.- Selection of 4 images from Japan.
1.B.- Selection of 4 images from China.
(as seen on the screen)
image 3 + image 2 + image 6 +image 12
Section 2. At a loss for words on Eastern Art
2.1. What we can see.
2.2. What artists do.
2.3. Inside the beholder.
Section 1. Elaboration on the motifs of eight images
1.A.- Selection of 4 images from Japan.
Image ONE. Kimono amb fulles de bambú i ideogrames.
The four popular plants/ flowers in painting (the orchid, bamboo, plum, and chrysanthemum) are called the "Four Paragons" in Japanese art, were also known as the "four Gentlemen" in the continent. These four plants symbolise the four seasons and they characteristicly represent the qualities ideal gentlemen should have.
The Bamboo corresponds at summer and symbolises strength and the spirit to endure adverse circumstances. It bends with the wind and snow but it does not break, it returns to its upright position when the wind and snow ceases. The bamboo, therefore, also symbolises flexibility but with integrity.
The bamboo it's one of the most difficult subjects to paint. A painting of bamboo is essentially a painting of lines, the very same line from where the writing system derives and both share the appretiation of the calligraphy artist.
Image TWO. El vell pruner
The plum blosom appears to be a main theme in East Asian art. This image symbolises the passage of time from winter to spring. The main difference between China (like Korea) and Japan being the time the blossoming takes place. In the continent it is earlier than in northern Japanese lands. The most interesting association I found was with the lifestyle of the isolated scholar-recluse.
The ‘Plum Blossom Studio’ made the appearance with the works of Lin Bu, a Song dynasty poet
The plum tree symbolises many ideas from where we highlight both hope and continuity of life which enhances the triumph of virtue over hardships in life but it also represents the virtues of purity and refinement. In China it goes with “good fortune”.
Plum tree is admired for its ability to reform itself to withstand adverse conditions. i.e. it manifests an appearance of hardness during winter. However, when spring comes, it nourishes itself and develops into a beautiful tree in spring. Plum blossom is the national emblem for Chinese New Year.
A poetical description can be rendered like this:
Almost before the winter snows have melted, the barren landscape welcomes the blooming of the plum tree, whose fragrant and delicate blossoms of the snowy white or light pink share, with the angular tree itself, older people's special admiration. The Japanese see the contrast between the knotted trunks and young green shoots as symbolic of age and youth - one bent and crabbed, the other fresh and vigorous, suggesting that in spite of age, the charm and joy of youth can always rise anew. <2>
Image THREE. Vano pintat amb la imatge d’un cirerer florit
The cherry blossom is the national flower of Japan and also China. I will deal with its characteristics in Japan here.
In spring, one of the best-loved <3> symbols of Japan makes a dramatic sweep across the country. Sakura (cherry blossoms) bloom usually from the end of March through April in a kind of wave starting in southernwest areas and working its way northeast.
The word sakura is generally used for those species of cherry appreciated for the beauty of their blossoms rather than those grown for their fruit. The sakura is mentioned frequently in Japanese literature since the VIII century.
The associations I found were threefold:
- Traditional Japanese values of purity and simplicity are thought to be reflected in the form and color of its blossoms symbolizing also filial love.
- Since it flowers very briefly and then scatters, the cherry blossom has also become a symbol of the Japanese appreciation of ephemeral beauty. The undeniable beauty of the delicate pink flowers is offset by a sense of melancholy at their all-too-brief appearance. This is often compared to our own short time spent on the earth.
- The crimson flowers are liken to one of the symbols of Japan’s history: the samurai. He spends his life preparing for the battle in which he offers as a selfsacrifice to his lord: to defend him to death. Here we can play with the Germanic roots of the archaic Bluot (meaning both flower and blood –in modern German they are two words: Blüte and Blut).
Image FOUR. Choju-Gija emaki, Choju Jimbutsu Giga (Frolicking Birds and Animals) Emakimono Attributed to Toba Sojo (1053-1140), late Heian Period Kozan-ji.
Toba Sojo was the head priest of a Buddhist sect near Kyoto. He is the author of a series of important narrative scrolls featuring humorous subjects inked in the Buddhist tradition of swift brushed work.
In this famous piece the common technique of free-line ink drawing was used to depict frolicking animals, with no explicative legend or poem written on the canvas which could give the audience a clue on the intention of the author.
Some maintain that the scenes were caricatures of contemporary Buddhist priests. To support the views we can say that the time of the scroll showed the change of aesthetics from a Buddhist frame of mind to a court leaned on sword power and more interested in mundane affairs <4>.
On the first scroll the scene depicted a scorned bonzo monkey reading in front of a frog sat on a Lotus flower. The second scroll shows more realistic actions drawn with excellent technique but no signs of parody. The quality sensibly lowers in the third one but keeping the motifs of the first and second scrolls to reach a trough in the fourth <5>, sohas been advanced the posssibility of being from different hands.
1.B.- Selection of 4 images from China.
Image ONE. H 1: Fragment del romanç de la cambra de l’oest (segle XIX, Dinastia Qing).
The picture with the man at his desk shows he is a man of affairs, taking part in the mundane work of urban life. It is a fragment of a narrative piece which shows him surrounded by his natural items as any man in his position needs to appreciate culture in nature. The lifestyle of the scholar, represented in literature and painting, was pursued by the Qing’s artist fascinated by Chinese texts, rituals, leisure activities, and goods.
But the philosophy underlining his appretiation of beauty reflects, I would adventure myself to say, a Confucian approach to life. He is serving his duties (tha mandate of heaven goes upwards to his Lord and in the end his state). After the Ming dynasty the new merchant class from the southern lands could acquiry beauty as an appreciation of the work of painters. Here the man shows the great value of calligraphy and painting (the scroll) and the rich ornamental surroundings of furniture and jarr with the private garden in company of the significant other (the women in rich robes). The use of perspective and some abstract decoration combines harmonically with the organic forms of the table.
Image TWO. H 4: Contenidor de pinzells.
The materials traditionally used in Chinese brush and ink painting are water, water container, water dropper, china palette, handmade brushes, brush rest, handmade paper and woven silk, Chinese ink stick and stone to grind the ink, watercolour and cadmium red paste for the carved stone seal for the signature. The brush rest is set into a carved mould, which can be in various shapes and often decorated with a scenary as in this object (or with gold and calligraphy).
This little object gives no clue of the owner of the piece. The setting depicted on it shows the Taoist ideal of life in nature. The precious woodcarving in such a had piece of wood gives a clear account of people and bamboo trunks gathering to enjoy life as it is: a cordial group of people, away from the life in the administrative chores and free spirits with real goals: be there.
We can find several examples of friends who were famous in Chines arts and gave word to preeentr them as the example to the person who did not want to be attached to material things.
The “seven sages of the bamboo forest” for instance (drinking wine and writing poetry) is the most well known in China.
Image THREE. Hogar 5: Gerro anb flors de lotus.
The image of the lotus flower stems from their origins which stretched out over the east of Asia <6>. The flower appears in midsummer. Roots come from muddy pools, and the flower grows in mud but oddly comes up white and pure. Buddhism uses this symbol for the Buddha's life - born in the problems and darkness of society, he grew to become pure and truthful, suggesting that a pure and lovely spirit can lift itself above worldliness to live in peaceful serenity.
It is thus a sacred flower of Buddhism, and is called "sacred friend" in Chinese floral tradition. Often used at funerals. The Lotus represents in a smaller scale stately beauty.
The lotus flower shows its universal meaning in the eight petals symbolising the eight directions of the heavens. These connections may be a little difficult to figure out. For twenty centuries the Lotus flower has been a symbol of different things but somehow related to the central concept of ‘purity’: from creation and meditation to truth and perfection, and also to immortality.
Image FOUR. Adorn2 Retrat de l’Emperadriu Cixi
Here are some of the meanings of both flowers in traditional Chinese painting:
The peony has a rich, lustrous appeal, and has been addressed as the “queen of the flowers”. It signifies wealth and nobility. The peony is called the "flower of twenty days" because of its short blooming season in May. It was especially favored by the upper classes and considered a symbol of happiness, prosperity, love and affection.
The chrysanthemum, the flower of early Autumn was used to provide encouragement to one who struggles and has long been considered a noble flower. Being one of the year's last flowers and because it can survive in cold conditions that would kill most plants, it symbolises the central meaning of courage, but widening the range from longevity and satisfaction to strength, from dignity and love to knowledge.
In Japan the crest of the imperial household is a stylized representation of a chrysanthemum blossom.
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