Korean Tiger

 Traditional  Korean art also has Tigers. One wonders if the scholar painter might have seen a tiger from a distance as this is somewhat more accurate than depictions based on seeing a tigerskin rug?

Rosetsu Tiger

 #rosetsu #tiger #yearofthetiger

If there's one subject Chinese and Japanese painters did not excel at sadly it's depicting tigers.

This is a South Chinese Tiger 
Thank you whoever added this to Wikimedia Commons!

BUT 

Chinese artists even centuries ago when the tiger population was much larger do not seen to have studied tigers in the wild or captivity?

There are various reasons for this.

Tigers are usually nocturnal hunters that hunt as individuals for in VERY small family groups and seem to prefer forests though its possible this is an adaptation to avoiding humans. 

In China the South China tiger population was shrinking for centuries and took a further down turn during the Qing dynasty when rifles were introduced and there's an ongoing debate as to how many Tigers survive in ANY part of CHINA in the wild. Some probably do. The ones who have learnt to avoid humans!

There were probably tigers in some parts of the north but again forest clearing and hunting by humans.

I do wonder if there were once "white" tigers in the parts of China near Tibet given the White Tiger of the West?

Tigers despite the Japanese having a word for tiger don't seem to have ever lived in Japan. 

However Japanese artists seen to have seen imported tiger skins but thought of tigers as very large cats?

You may have seen other cropped photos of this painting by Nagasawa Rosetsu that do not show how large the screen painting is. Rosetsu's tiger is a splendid energetic beast indeed larger than life but no more housecat though with this and other images I suspect a study of house cats.

As its the year of the Tiger I will be sharing more Tiger Art as I find it.

Do consider following me for more ?

Hokusai's Phoenix Painting

 Hokusai's Phoenix Painting 

#hokusai #phoenix 

While Hokusai is best known as a print designer he did also paint !

I have shared this one before but as this is one of his lesser known works I wanted to share it so more people can enjoy it !

Kano Hogai - 2 dragons

#kano #dragons #japanese painting

TWO DRAGONS FIGHTING

I promised to identify the 3 artworks I shared in the last post. Here is the first.

This is one of those Kano paintings that could almost be mistaken for a Chinese work from a Ming or even Sung artist however it is Japanese a work by Kano Hogai depicting two dragons fighting.

HAGI STYLIZED

#hagi #bushclover #japaneseart #japaneselacquer

I've seen Hagi - Bush Clover represented in a variety of stylized ways so here's what it actually looks like compared to its rendering in 3 different media

However on lacquer 

and on a print 

finally a painting 

Castiglione NOT just Horses

I was pleasantly surprised to discover while searching for images for the upcoming Year of the Dog to discover #Castiglione the priest who became a Chinese Imperial Court Painter
didn't just do horses and dogs ...

Though I do strongly suspect as with other Ming and Qing paintings that possibly the bird subjects were in an aviary or jessed in a garden. Either that or the painter has deliberately combined thing he'd seen in the Imperial collections as the rocks look rather like the type used in the Chinese equivalent of "Dry" gardens or bonsai ???

Its a rather odd piece by both European and Chinese aesthetic standards but pleasing eccentric which was perhaps part of the appeal of his fusion style?

Butterflies - Zeshin Lacquer painting

#butterflies #zeshin #lacquer #painting

Yes this is lacquer not ink !

I hope you have enjoyed this butterfly series

Ming Multitude Bird and flower painting

Back to the Birds. More comments on cultural diversity next post.

The Ming dynasty seems to have produced extra-ordinary excellence in bird and flower paintings with complex compositions and rich detail. Notice that while this painting is called Birds with Peonies the artist has also included willows and plum and the wonderful contrast of black and white smaller birds with the flashy peacocks and one silver pheasant counterbalancing that contrast. Then you have the tail of the upper peacock perched on the rock leading your eye up and down the painting paralleling the tree trunk. A masterpiece of detail color layout and composition.

Nihonga style depiction of a Dove

In keeping with our current #Dove theme a Jjapanese  #Nihonga #painting

Our next theme for the year of the bird may be peacocks or geese.

Shen Zhou Dove Painting

#shenzhou #ming #dove #painting #chineseart

For our next YEAR of the BIRD  sequence our avain will be the DOVE starting with this Chinese Painting by Shen Zhou from the Ming Dynasty. He is usually cited in art history texts as a landscape painter but he worked with other themes too!

Quail in the Grasses

Quail in the Grasses is a popular theme in Japanese probably due to the poem I'm going to post below.

#quail #japaneseart #shunzei #waka

18th - 19th painting by unknown artist from Japan 

This and other images of quail and grass may have been illustrated this famous poem by Shunzei also known as Fujiwara Toshinari  SZSIV259 or SKKS 4.291 also Waka.net and Miner

YUU SAREBA

NOBE NO AKIKAZE

MI NI SHIMITE

UZURA NAKU NARI

FUKAKUSA SATO

Its one of those elegant Heian waka that are both simple yet complex

Evening is passing over
fields vicinity of autumn wind  note fields NOT Moors see my note on Fukasato
nobe is written as no+be with kanji in the text i saw but spoken it could mean stretching
shimite could be shimeru pierced by cold wind feel pain or frozen and chilled
uzura are quail they could be wild or domestic
village of dense deep grass
this is an actual location now a suburb between Kyoto and Fushimi

Its evening a cold wind is moving and the quail are crying perhaps just their roosting call but perhaps some predator is stalking them?

Perhaps this was one of those rare areas where the soil wasnt right for rice paddies but the grasses had been left to grow for cattle and horses ?

The poet isnt in the city or the deep mountains but a semi rural area
Nowhere exotic but he makes the moment special and memorable!

Hokusai Willow and Crows

#Hokusai #painting #jpaanese apinting #ukiyo-e

Yes I know I showed you a painting in an earlier post but here is another that shows his compositional skills were used for both painting and print design.

I rather suspect though these crows are mobbing an intruder from a different flock trying to drive him or her out of their range.

Hokusai  is usually  mentioned in text books as a printmaker but we need to remember he painted too!

A HOKUSAI MEDLEY

#Hokusai is well known for his landscape prints and his famous #Manga sketchbooks but he was also a painter and designer of surimono prints. 

#surimono #japaneseprints #ukiyo-e #phoenix

I've shared 2 of his lesser known surimono prints and in the middle is part of a screen painting of a phoenix for contrast.

I have used this one a few times before as as well as being a well designed print it shows traditional asian brushes,an inkstone, and a block of ink. 

This is a detail of a 8 fold screen set of paintings probably used in a bedroom.

Japaneses prints had a variety of formats.

Surimono often feature long horizontal formats as they were frequently folded into pamphlets and given as newyear gifts.

More Hokusai soon! 

I'll try to find some unusual images that illustrate all aspects of his work.