#asianart — Public Fediverse posts

Your art history post for today: by Okada Saburōsuke (1869-1939), Portrait of a Lady, 1907, oil, 733x615 cm, Artizon Museum, Tokyo. #arthistory #oilpainting #painting #japaneseart #asianart

From the museum: “Okada Saburosuke won first prize at the 1907 Tokyo Industrial Exhibition for this painting, which initially was entitled Study in Purple, a reference to the purple cords that lace the drum. The woman wearing a Genroku-style kimono and her hair in a chignon seem about to strike the drum. In the background is a Rimpa-style folding screen with a design of fringed pinks and flowing water. This painting was commissioned by Takahashi Yoshio, who was involved in the management of Mitsukoshi Drapery Store and had touched off the Genroku motif boom. The subject is his wife, Chiyoko. This familiar painting was used in a poster for the Mitsukoshi’s Spring New Pattern Show and later as a postage stamp.”

A curator’s crucial perspective on Hong Kong’s burgeoning art scene in the 1980s and 1990s – The Art Newspaper

For a city as iconic in the global imaginary as Hong Kong, there are surprisingly few broad histories…
#NewsBeep #News #Artsanddesign #Arts #ArtsAndDesign #Asianart #Books #Design #Entertainment #HongKong #Politics #UK #UnitedKingdom
https://www.newsbeep.com/uk/755497/

Unknown South/Southeast Asian artist, “Sonam Tsemo and His Lineage,” early 17th century, mineral pigments and gold on cotton cloth, 31 x 26 1/2 in. (78.7 x 67.3 cm), Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). #arthistory #art #asianart

https://www.europesays.com/ch/106442/ Hong Kong City Guide: Art Basel & Cultural Highlights 2019 #ArtBasel #ArtGalleries #AsianArt #Basel #CulturalDistrict #CulturalTourism #HongKong #HongKongTravel #kowloon #RosewoodHongKong #TravelGuide #VictoriaHarbour

"Hatsune Riding Ground," Hiroshige, 1856.

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) was the last great master of the ukiyo-e print, an art style that focused on life in urban pleasure districts, often with portraits of beautiful women or famous actors. Hiroshige was somewhat daring in choosing to do a series of landscapes around his home in the city of Edo, now known as Tokyo.

Here we have the Hatsune area, at the city's northern edge, mostly dedicated to lodging visitors. The tower is one of a number of fire watchtowers around the city, and the huge bolts of cloth are not triumphal banners, but simply freshly dyed textiles hung out to dry. The overall effect is of a typical day in the city, a different approach for ukiyo-e.

This is part of a series of woodcuts called "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo" and can be found online. They're at all times of the day and the year, at all occasions, but provide a fascinating glimpse into 19th century Japanese life.

His work was a huge influence on Western artists like Van Gogh and the Impressionists, and his work is still loved today in Japan.

From the Brooklyn Museum.

#Art #Hiroshige #Ukiyo_e #Edo #JapaneseArt #AsianArt #Woodcut

Cầu Duyên
It's quite rare that I do piece like this since it look quite out of nowhere when put together with the rest of my works. I think I drew this one for Tet Holiday with one of my friends. In Vietnam, during Tet Holiday , people normaly go to pagoda to pray for love , luck or healths,,..etc. That basically is what this piece about.😅
#mastoart #artwork #art #digitalart #FendiArt #asianart #illustrated

"Paulownias and Chrysanthemums," Sakai Hōitsu, early 1800s.

Sakai Hōitsu (1761-1829) was a practitioner of the Rinpa school of painting; basically images with gold backgrounds, with classical subject matter that catered to the tastes of the wealthy. He wasn't an original Rinpa, which was invented in the 1600s, but he revived it in the 19th century.

Sakai was a popular painter and teacher in his adulthood, but poor health drove him to be a Buddhist priest and live the last 21 years of his life in seclusion. During that time, though, he studied the works of other artists and released a collection of his own work in book form, from this this is taken.

The line down the middle is because this is a two-part screen, for well-off patrons in small city quarters. The contrast of paulownia, a summer flower, with chrysanthemum, an autumn flower, indicates the changing seasons, but in Japanese art paulownia is a symbol for resilience and chrysanthemums for virtuous governance, so it's vaguely political as well.

Happy Flower Friday!

From the Cleveland Museum of Art.

#Art #SakaiHoitu #Rinpa #JapaneseArt #AsianArt #FlowerFriday

Asian Lesser False Vampire Bat (watercolour, artist unknown) – Kolkata, India. Held by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art

“A Bat with large ears, grey body, pale brown wings, and pink legs and arms, the animal posed with wings outspread to display the underside.”

https://asia.si.edu/explore-art-culture/collections/search/edanmdm:fsg_S1993.40/

#art #IndianArt #AsianArt #bats #BatAppreciationDay #watercolor #watercolour

https://www.europesays.com/ie/406212/ Exhibition explores connection between textiles and spirituality in Asia – The Art Newspaper #ArtBaselHongKong2026 #Arts #ArtsAndDesign #ArtsAndDesign #ArtsDesign #AsianArt #Design #Éire #Entertainment #Exhibitions #HongKong #IE #Ireland #textiles

"Heron in Rain," Ohara Koson, 1928.

Ohara (1877-1945) was a Japanese painter and printmaker of the shin-hanga school, a style that revived the old ukiyo-e stylings with modern influences.

Although his work includes some animal prints, historical works (mostly of the Russo-Japanese War), and some portraits, he's best known for his kachō-e works, or bird-and-flower, a style that began in China but spread all over Asia, from Korea to Iran. Bird-and-flower paintings are exactly that: Birds and flowers, and often very charming and decorative.

This print of a heron doesn't have flowers but it's one of Ohara's most popular works and reproduced often. The simplicity of the heron in the rain, presented with few details, verges on the abstract, and is a very good example of what the shin-hanga school could do.

From the Art Institute of Chicago.

#Art #OharaKoson #AsianArt #JapaneseArt #Shin_Hanga #Kacho_e

"Surface of Lake Misaka, Kai Province," Katsushika Hokusai, c. 1830-2.

Hokusai (1760-1849) is important not only as amazing artist in his own right, but as a major influence on Western art.

THE major painter of the ukiyo-e school, he was also a driving force in moving the style from just being about portraits of courtesans and actors, to being about landscapes, plants, and animals.

This is part of his woodblock print series "Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji" which includes that famous tidal wave painting that everyone has seen. That series was a bestseller in Japan and influenced later artists who began publishing their own prints of various scenes around Japan.

Hokusai's work became popular in Europe in the latter half of the 19th century, and many of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, like Monet, Renoir, and Gauguin, were fans of his and admitted their debt to him.

Interestingly, the mountain in this print is clear of snow, while the reflection shows the famous snow cap. Nobody is sure why that is; perhaps a symbol of the seasons, or perhaps just a way to draw the eye to the reflection. It's hard to believe it was just a goof!

From a private collection.

#Art #Hokusai #Ukiyo_e #MountFuji #AsianArt #JapaneseArt #ILoveThis

By Georgette Chen (born Chang Li Ying, 1906-1993), Self-Portrait, oil on wood, 35 by 27 cm (13 3/4 by 10 1/2 inches), photo: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 04 April 2015. #arthistory #womanartist #womenartists #asianart #painting #oilpainting #WomensHistoryMonth

From the catalogue note: “Georgette Chen’s modernist aesthetic and profound comprehension of the oil painting medium introduced a fresh surge to Singapore’s pre-existing artistic paradigm in the 20th century. Though landscapes and still life works are her famed forte, Chen’s striking self-portrait serves as a remarkable and rare testament to one of the most groundbreaking strides in the Nanyang School. As the singular female artist in this group, she delved into an emotional search for self-identity as she fashioned this image and appeared stalwart in her artistic fortitude.”

I don’t know much about fine art. Been to a bunch of museums and seen epic, historic paintings…but fine art is still a bit above my pay grade. I do, however, love textiles - so I collect carpets, wall hangings, blankets and the like. I am particularly fond of Uzbek Suzani textiles, and I’ve been able to acquire a number of pieces at auction (in most cases for ridiculously cheap prices). Here are a few of my favorites. A couple on my dining room table, and one on the hallway wall. #textiles #AsianArt #embroidery #Uzbekistan #CentralAsia

National Museum of Asian Art Returns Three Bronze Sculptures to the Government of India Following the Museum’s Comprehensive Provenance Research.
One Sculpture Is to Remain on Long-Term Loan, Enabling the Museum To Share Its Complete History With the Public
https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/releases/national-museum-asian-art-returns-three-bronze-sculptures-government-india #globalmuseum #museums #AsianArt

Your art history post for today: by Vietnamese-French painter Mai Trung Thu (1906-1980), "Grand-Mère (Grandmother)," 1944, ink and gouache on silk mounted on cardboard, 60 by 45 cm; 23 1/2 by 17 1/2 in., photo: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, July 8, 2020. #arthistory #asianart

More info in ALT.

By Vietnamese artist Lê Phổ (1907-2001), Nativité (The Nativity), 1941, ink and gouache on silk, 69 × 54.5 cm. (27 1/8 × 21½ in.), photo: Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 Nov 2015. #arthistory #vietnameseart #asianart #christmas #art

"Woman with Morning Glories," Katsushika Ōi, c. 1820s.

Katsushika (c. 1800 - c. 1866) was the daughter of the great Hokusai, by his second wife, but also an accomplished artist in her own right.

Not a lot about her life is known for sure, except she was her father's apprentice and assistant, and married another artist...but divorced him three years later. She moved back in with her father and never remarried, the two of them always busy with their art.

This print is intriguing; at first glance the woman seems to be simpering at the bowl of morning glories (on a tray that absurdly resembles a bathroom scale to modern eyes), but a closer look shows what may be a sheet of paper hidden behind the fan. Is she reading a clandestine letter? A poem from a lover? A naughty print? Who knows?

Sadly, not much of her art is known to survive to this day, but it is known that she was highly regarded in her lifetime. It's possible that some of her work is misattributed to others, including her father. But she remains the object of study and admiration.

Happy Flower Friday!

From the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

#Art #KasushikaOi #JapaneseArt #AsianArt #ukiyo_e #MorningGlory #WomenArtists #WomenInArt #FlowerFriday

"Fukusa (Gift Cover)," Unknown artist, 1840-70.

An old Japanese tradition was that gifts would be presented on a tray or in a box, and would be draped with a fukusa, a showy cloth, usually embroidered, that would show off the giver's wealth and/or social position.

Here we have a fukusa of blue satin, embroidered with cranes in silk and metallic thread. Cranes are a symbol of longevity in Japan, as they were believed to live for 1,000 years.

I can imagine this being used to cover a gift from a younger person to an older relative or parent, perhaps, communicating a wish for a long life. The fukusa tradition has all but died out in Japan, which seems a pity, but at least we have examples like this to keep the memory alive.

From the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

#Art #AsianArt #JapaneseArt #Embroidery #FabricArts #Fukusa #Cranes #FancyGiftWrap

"Plum Blossoms," Jin Nong, 1757.

Jin Nong (1687-c.1763) was a noted calligrapher and painter of China's Qing Dynasty. Not much about his early life is known; he only came to prominence in his late 50s, when as a childless widower he produced a series of nonconformist works.

While a lot of his work was very traditional, he loaded it with symbolism, and he preferred to sell his work in the open market, rather than having a private patron, which was the usual course of action for painters of the era.

Also a writer, poet, art critic and art dealer, Jin was listed as one of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, a group of painters who rejected orthodox ideas of art while producing highly individualistic and expressive works.

Happy Flower Friday!

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

#Art #ChineseArt #AsianArt #JinNong #EightEccentricsOfYangzhou #FlowerFriday

"Portrait of a Rabbit," Yabu Chosui, 1867.

I am unable to find any information about Yabu Chosui other than their dates (1814 to c.1870) and several other works, which annoys me.

This is a surimono print, a genre of Japanese printmaking that was generally in small runs and commissioned for a special occasion, like the New Year, which is believed to be the inspiration for this print, assumed to have been made in honor of the Year of the Rabbit.

Surimono prints were commissioned and collected by the educated literati, and as such could be more experimental and extravagant than the usual commercial prints. This is a bit surreal, in giving us a huge rabbit...but the body resembles the bag of Hotei, the god of prosperity, which often figured in New Year's art, and also possibly is meant to resemble the moon, where an immortal rabbit lives, according to Japanese mythology. It's also possibly meant to reflect a common New Year's symbol, the rising sun, as we have the rabbit against a pink field like a morning sky.

Surimono prints were also commissioned by poetry societies to honor a prizewinning poem, and by kabuki actors, to commemorate significant moments in their careers.

Happy Portrait Monday!

From the Art Institute of Chicago.

#Art #YabuChosui #Surimono #JapaneseArt #AsianArt #PortraitMonday

"Bathtime," Kitagawa Utamaro, c. 1801.

The life of Utamaro (c.1753-1806) is largely a mystery; we don't know where he was born or who his family was. Many believe he was married and had a child, as the same mother and child show up in a lot of his prints of domestic life.

His work first appeared in the 1770s, at the height of Japan's Edo period; at the time, he worked mostly designing prints for books, but later gave that up for making prints of individual women. His portraits of women, many of them geishas, made his fame. He later went on to do many works of insects, flowers, animals, erotica, and scenes of domestic life. He was arrested in 1804 for violating Imperial censorship laws, seemingly by depicting samurai with their crests accurately copied, which was forbidden, but it's unknown what his punishment was.

This is from his later period, perhaps a depiction of his wife and child. It's a sincerely portrayed work of an intimate moment between mother and child. Upon his death in 1806, he had no known heirs, and his tomb was left neglected and untended, until fans restored it in 1917.

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

#Art #JapaneseArt #KitagawaUtamaro #ukiyo_e #WomenInArt #MothersInArt #AsianArt

Figure Mooring a Boat beautifully embodies tranquility, capturing the essence of the "night rain over Xiao and Xiang." Kannan’s fusion of Chinese and Korean influences invites reflection on cultural exchange in art. What resonates with you in this peaceful landscape?
#ClevelandArt #Kannan #AsianArt
https://clevelandart.org/art/2015.474

"Blue Irises," Ohara Koson, 1900-30.

Up at Mom's for a couple of days. Happy Flower Friday!

#art #AsianArt #JapaneseArt #Shin_hanga #OharaKoson #FlowerFriday

"Temma Bridge at Settsu Province," Katsushika Hokusai, c. 1834.

Hokusai (c. 1760-1849) is THE great Japanese artist; I recall learning about him as a child, from a book that also taught about Leonardo da Vinci and Pieter Brueghel the Elder.

Temma Bridge (also called Tenman or Tenma) once stood over the Yodo River in Osaka, which was an important waterway at the time. Here it is depicted at the height of the Tenjin Festival, a huge affair that involves a river procession followed by fireworks.

This was part of Hokusai's series of prints, "Remarkable Views of Bridges in Various Provinces" and may have been based on an earlier print that emphasized its semicircular shape.

I may have to look up this series; there's something about the idea of a collection of views of bridges that I find enormously charming.

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

#Art #AsianArt #JapaneseArt #Hokusai #ukiyo_e #Bridges #Prints

Your art history post for today: by Japanese woman artist Negishi Ayako (1913-1948), Waiting for Makeup (Keshō o matsu化粧 を待), 1938, black ink and coloured pigment on paper, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. #arthistory #womanartist #japan #womenartists #asianart

From the museum’s Instagram: “Already an accomplished contemporary artist by her early 20’s, Ayako specialised in bijin-ga, or portraits of beautiful people.

In this work, two women wear stylish Western-cut clothing with 'Marcelled' hair waves, made popular by a French hair stylist at the time. We see hairpins and a beaded bag by their side – a reflection of the latest Japanese fashions of the 1930s.

🔍 If you look even closer, you can see the beautiful use of vibrantly coloured traditional Japanese powdered pigments. Applied with water, the pigments often leave a 'puddling' water-stain effect after drying.”

Your art history post for today: by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892), Viewing fireworks from a boat in the evening cool, ink, colour, gold and gofun on silk, 11¼ x 12½ in. (28.5 x 31.8 cm), photo: Sotheby’s London 14 December 2021. (Gofun is a white pigment made from crushed oyster shells.) #arthistory #asianart #artspout

Information on the artist, from the Philadelphia Museum of Art: “Tsukioka Yoshitoshi was the last great master of the traditional Japanese color woodcut genre known as ukiyo-e. Yoshitoshi came of age as an artist during Japan’s dramatic cultural transformation in the 1860s, after the country opened to international trade after two hundred years of isolation. Just as his country struggled to reconcile its reverence for tradition with the realities of the modern world, Yoshitoshi navigated a range of traditional and contemporary themes in his prints: the heroism of samurai warriors, poetic images of figures in nature, female beauty, historic accounts, ghost stories, and the horrors of the battlefield. Across his diverse output, he masterfully incorporated Western visual concepts of foreshortening and perspective that were popular during the Meiji period (1868–1912).”

"Noisy: A Young Woman of the Kansei Period with a Purring Cat," Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1888.

Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) was the last great master of the ukiyo-e woodblock print, and an innovator of the style, at a time when Japan's culture was rapidly modernizing and leaving traditional arts and styles behind.

He was coming off a period of severe depression after his fame for producing bloody prints of violence faded...he was reflecting the violence in Japanese culture at the time. However, he found a career resurrection in producing images of actors in various dramas, and the eternal ukiyo-e subject, beautiful women.

The identity of this woman is unknown; although she's shown in the dress and style of the Kansei period (1789-1801), it's likely that the subject was a geisha or courtesan. Her snuggling of the cat is an unconventional pose, but charming. The cat even has the requisite bell on its collar.

Sadly, Yoshitoshi's physical and mental health began to deteriorate. He was hospitalized for a while, but was released and died of a cerebral hemorrhage at 53.

From the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

#Art #JapaneseArt #AsianArt #TsukiokaYoshitoshi #Ukiyo_e #WomenInArt #CatsOfMastodon

Wang Jianzhang's "Spring Rain Thatched Hut" envelops the essence of tranquility, merging landscape with poetic expression. Witness how nature and literature beautifully intertwine in this masterpiece. What stories does this serene scene evoke for you?
#ClevelandArt #ArtHistory #AsianArt
https://clevelandart.org/art/2008.108

Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797–1858). New Year's Eve Foxfires at the Changing Tree, Oji, No. 118 from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, 9th month of 1857. Woodblock print, sheet: 14 3/16 x 9 1/4 in. (36.0 x 23.5 cm); image: 13 3/8 x 8 3/4 in. (34.0 x 22.2 cm), this impression in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum. #arthistory #asianart #woodblock #woodblockprint #printmaking

From the museum: “In the late 1850s, while Japanese color prints were dominated by themes of the fantastic, Hiroshige emphasized the realities of the observed world in his work. However, here he has ventured into the world of spirits. It was believed that on New Year's Eve all the foxes of the surrounding provinces would gather at a particular tree near Oji Inari Shrine, the headquarters of the regional cult of the god Inari. There the foxes would change their dress for a visit to the shrine, where they would be given orders for the coming year. On the way, the animals would emit distinctive flames by which local farmers were able to predict the crops of the coming year.”

Festival Night Fireworks, 1924, by Yamamura Toyonari (1885-1942), woodblock print. As a print it appears in many collections both private and public. This image from the Carnegie Museum of Art. #arthistory #asianart #woodblockprint #printmaking

July! A new month, a new art history theme. For July, my theme is light in the darkness. Today we have Fireworks at Ike-no-hata (Ike-no-hata hanabi), by Kobayashi Kiyochika (Japanese, 1847–1915), Publisher: Fukuda Kumajirō, 1881, woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper, 23.8 × 33.6 cm (9 3/8 × 13 1/4 in.), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. #arthistory #asianart #woodblockprint #woodblock #printmaking

From the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art: ‘On September 3, 1868, the city called Edo ceased to exist. Renamed Tokyo (“Eastern Capital”) by Japan’s new rulers, the city became the primary experiment in a national drive toward modernization. Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847–1915), a minor retainer of the recently deposed shogun, followed his master into exile. When he returned to his birthplace in 1874, Kiyochika found Tokyo filled with railroads, steamships, gaslights, telegraph lines, and large brick buildings—never-before-seen entities that were now ingrained in the cityscape.

Self-trained as an artist, Kiyochika set out to record his views of Tokyo. A devastating fire engulfed the city in 1881 and effectively ended the project, but the ninety-three prints he had completed were unlike anything previously produced by a Japanese artist. Avoiding the colorful and celebratory cityscapes of traditional woodblock prints, Kiyochika focused on light and its effects. Dawn, dusk, and night were his primary moments of observation, and his subjects—both old and new—are veiled in sharply angled light, shadows, and darkness. To accommodate this new way of seeing, Kiyochika effectively invented a visual vocabulary that incorporated elements of oil painting, copperplate printing, and photography. Interest in Kiyochika’s prints revived in the 1910s, when Tokyo intellectuals began to interpret the series as a critique of modernity.’