#rinpa — Public Fediverse posts

"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