Flower Painting Research Articles

Spolia as speculation

ABSTRACTDo the concept of spolia, the ideas of Georges Bataille, Walter Benjamin’s ‘Angel of History’ and the practices of artists point to the conclusion that there is no such thing as ‘waste?’ Are waste and value conflated today as never before? Is waste a modern, capitalist concept or conceit? These are some of the questions that motivate this article and which it hopes to illuminate, if not fully to answer. The article consciously mixes objective speculation with subjective and empirical experience and also features the writer’s own artworks as examples. The reader is invited to consider a constant, immanent economy; an endless, formless, qualitative ‘accountancy’ (perhaps anaccountancy) that avoids separate columns for profit and loss and dispenses with finalizing totals. This form of evaluation can be applied both to the content and the style of the article. The author draws upon the thought of Georges Bataille (as inspired by Nietzsche) to illustrate the concept of spolia as an affirmation of perceived ‘waste’. Waste is considered a historically variable concept, examined here in terms of capitalism and of bourgeois consumerist values. The author draws upon his own photography practice and also references Dutch seventeenth-century flower painting while alluding to the writings of Walter Benjamin, Giacomo Leopardi and Charles Baudelaire in dialogue with those of Bataille/Nietzsche.

20세기 인쇄 병풍화의 유행과 民畵에의 영향 : 翎毛·花鳥畵를 중심으로

Not only the visual image such as postcards, posters, textbooks and novels illustrations, newspaper ads, etc. due to the printing technology introduced through Japan during the time of enlightenment in Korea, but also a variety of types of printed pictures such as reproduced ones by famous painters had got to be prepared. Among which bird and flower paintings were mass-produced and spread throughout the country. For printed bird and flower paintings the auspicious motifs such as pine and crane, tiger and bamboo, peonies and peacocks, eagles, a group of chickens were often used. The motifs such as pine and crane, tiger and bamboo can be also found in our Korean traditional paintings, but in the composition and style the influence of Japanese painting style is detected. The printed pictures were already introduced into the country and distributed nationwide in the 1920s, which had been used mainly in the form of a folding screen until the 1980s, in the feasting spaces, such as wedding ceremonies and the 60th birthday parties. Such folding screens were printed to form a new demand as a “new art” in the art market in the 20th century, which replaced the place of folk paintings having existed as the existing public art. Rather, the fact that folk artists have actively borrowed and transfigured the motif of the printed folding screens and tried to fit in a then fashioned taste can be found through existing handwriting folk paintings. We are looking forward to that you can identify the visual culture by newly shedding light on the relationships between printed folding screens and folk paintings in a fashion all over the 20th century, and take it a base to access the folk ones on a broader perspective.

Sketch-based stroke generation in Chinese flower painting

Sketch-based stroke generation in Chinese flower painting

Flower and Chicken Painting from the Symbol's and Myth's Perspective

Chicken and flower painting could be accounted as s school in Iranian typography, however determining its place and its analogy with the European paintings for the people acquainted to the Iranian culture would be under question. Especially finding the 4 thousand years old painting of Simorgh and Vispuish tree makes us think that main symbols of flower and chicken which is plant and bird, is taken from the Simorgh and Vispuish flower. For this purpose investigating bird's (Simorgh's) and plant (tree) myths was taken place. Interestingly Simorgh which in Avesta is called "Saen" has been compared with other mythical birds like Phoenix and eagle and its magical features and its irrefrangible relation with Vispubish tree which contains the seeds of all plants and its healing feature was investigated. From one side, Sohrevardi words which carries Iranian thoughts prove the relation between Iranian perfectionism and these two myths. There were major changes after the entrance of Islam in Iran, however these two myths survived, tree in the shape of plant and Phoenix in the shape of a small bird was painted beside it. If this design was European, it would not be so acceptable for the society and under the effect of fashion, it would disappear very soon. Social mindset of the past has effected its formation and survival. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n2s1p409

An ancient record of an avian hybrid and the potential uses of art in ecology and conservation

Hybridization, the interbreeding of different species, is the object of much research and great interest (Mallet 2007, Abbott et al. 2013). As in many taxa (even humans; early modern humans hybridized with Neanderthals and Denisovans (Pääbo 2015)), hybridization is widespread in birds (Randler 2004, McCarthy 2006). According to the most updated literature mining, hybridization has been recorded in 2204 species from 30 bird orders in nature and/or in captivity (Ottenburghs et al. 2015). It presents various challenges to the definitions of species, studies of the process of speciation, reconstructions of phylogenies and strategies of conservation (Grant & Grant 1992). Birds and flowers are important components in traditional Chinese paintings. A masterpiece of Gongbi painting attributed to Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, or Ji Zhao (reigned 1100–1125 AD), depicts a male pheasant resting on a hibiscus branch, his head turned to gaze at hovering butterflies (Fig. 1a). This pheasant shows chimeric characteristics from two species of pheasant (genus Chrysolophus), both of which occur in China (Lei et al. 2002): the Golden Pheasant Chrysolophus pictus (Fig. 1b) and Lady Amherst's Pheasant Chrysolophus amherstiae (Fig. 1c). The latter species has black and silver cape-like feathers on the sides of the neck and this pattern is clear in the painting. However, other characteristics of the pheasant in the painting are typical of the Golden Pheasant. The painting may represent artistic licence, or a nearly 900-year-old depiction of a hybrid bird. More than seven centuries after the painting was created, both the Golden Pheasant and Lady Amherst's Pheasant were exported to Europe. Hybridization between these birds was first described in 1872 (Elliot 1872). Subsequently, a natural male hybrid pheasant was captured in Sichuan, China, in 1964 and another was reported in 1974 (Deng 1974). This specimen closely matched the bird in the Song Dynasty painting. Additional reports of natural hybrids exist (He et al. 1993) and one hybrid bird also matches the painting (Fig. 1d). Thus, the earliest record of an avian hybrid can be traced back nearly 900 years. The hybrid pheasant in the ancient painting raises an interesting possibility. The massive number of centuries-old bird and flower paintings in various collections may serve to document the biodiversity of ancient China, even to the extent of revealing species lost forever. It is possible that more interesting findings will be made through collaborations between art collectors and connoisseurs and biologists in the future. We thank Xuan Guo, Li-Wei Li and Ming Zhang for providing the photographs of Chrysolophus pictus, Chrysolophus amherstiae and the hybrid, respectively. We also thank Dr Leslie Anthony for editorial feedback. This work was supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) ‘Light of West China’ programme. M.-S.P. thanks the Youth Innovation Promotion Association, CAS, for its support.

Aspects of Conceptual Flower Paintings of 19th Century Joseon Korea : Focused Peony and Lotus Flower Painting

회화에서 寫意란, 사물의 외형을 그대로 그리지 않고 사물의 의미나 화가의 내면의 감정과 의취를 표현하는 것을 말한다.BR 明代 吳派의 沈周가 개성을 드러내는 필묵과 담백한 담채의 사용, 자신의 흥을 풀어내었다고 표현한 제시를 통해 문인화의 기본사상인 詩書畵一致를 보여주어 사의화훼화의 기틀을 만들었다. 이러한 양상으로 미루어 보아 사의화훼화란, 문인들이 자신들의 자유로운 내면의 감성을 드러내면서 수묵이나 수묵담채를 통해 筆墨의 美를 구사하며 대상을 간결하게 그리고 여백의 효과를 드러내는 그림으로 정의할 수 있다.BR 조선전기부터 화훼에 대한 문인들의 관심이 높았으나 18세기에 사회경제적으로 안정되며 문인들 사이에 화훼원예취미와 화훼애호현상이 나타나기 시작했다. 또한 이 시기에는 청과의 왕래가 본격적으로 이루어지고, 명·청대에 간행된 화보가 많이 유입되면서 『十竹齋書畫譜』와 『芥子園畵傳』 3집이 사의 화훼화의 제작에 큰 영향을 미쳤다. 18세기 사의화훼화를 주로 그린 화가들은 南宗畵家였던 沈師正·姜世晃·崔北 등으로 화보의 영향 속 산뜻한 담채와 간결한 형태의 筆墨의 미를 드러내는 작품을 제작하였다.BR 19세기에 이르면 화훼원예취미가 더욱 확산되고, 화훼에 대한 전문적인 서적 및 화훼시가 유행하였다. 또한 부를 갖게 된 중인계층들이 서화 감상 및 수장, 창작활동을 적극적으로 하며 문예의 중심으로 성장하게 되었다. 이 시기 활발히 활동했던 화가들은 남종화풍의 그림을 그렸으며 사의를 드러내고자 했다. 이외에 金正喜 등이 사행 이후에도 청의 문사들과 지속적으로 교유하고 서화고동 취미로 인하여 揚州畵派의 화훼화 등 많은 중국의 서화가 유입되었다. 이러한 영향은 19세기 사의화훼화가 성행하는데 큰 역할을 하였다. 그 중 특히 모란과 연화는 조선 말기 혼란한 시대 속 부귀와 안정을 원하는 사회 분위기 속에 다시 성행하게 되었다.BR 19세기의 사의화훼화 중 모란도와 연화도를 주로 제작했던 화가는 중인화가였던 許鍊과 金秀哲 그리고 田琦 등으로, 이들은 18세기 사의화훼화의 기반 위에 청대 양주화파 등의 영향을 받아 조선의 사의화훼화를 발전시켰다. 19세기 사의화훼화의 특징은 크게 세 가지로 나눌 수 있는데 우선, 18세기 화훼화보다 화훼의 형태와 기법이 다양해졌다. 18세기 화가들은 주로 화첩에 절지형태의 간략한 형태로 표현하였는데 비해 19세기에는 하나의 소재를 하나의 화첩이나 병풍에 다양한 형태로 그렸다. 대표적인 화가로 허련은 주로 먹으로 다양한 모습의 화훼를 그리고 어울리는 제시를 배치하여 시서화일치를 보여주었다. 둘째, 다양한 색채가 사용되었으며, 단순하고 추상적 형태의 현대적인 화훼화가 등장하였다. 대표적인 화가는 김수철과 전기로, 먼저 김수철은 다양한 소재 중 연화를 많이 그렸으며 18세기의 감각적인 색채를 발전시켜 묵과 담채를 혼용하여 사용하는 등 변화를 주었다. 더불어 한쪽으로 치우친 구도에 매우 평면적이고 간략한 형태의 화훼를 통해 사의를 드러냈다. 이에 반해 전기는 18세기 사의화훼화처럼 절지형태의 간략한 모습으로 그렸으나 극대화된 농담의 대비와 자유로운 필치로 추상적 형태의 새로운 사의화훼화를 그렸다.BR 마지막으로 화훼화에 길상적 의미의 소재를 추가한 점이다. 19세기에 들어면서 모란은 괴석과 함께 많이 등장하는데, 이는 전통 채색화조화에서도 볼 수 있는 조합이지만 문인화로서는 18세기부터 나타나기 시작했다. 19세기에는 혼란한 사회분위기 속 길상적인 의미를 드러내는 회화가 인기가 높아 부귀의 상징이었던 모란과 장수의 상징이었던 괴석이 함께 등장하였을 것으로 보인다. 연화의 경우에는 허련의 그림을 통해 연화가 어해와 함께 등장함을 살펴볼 수 있었다. 어해는 부부금실 등을 상징하는 것으로, 19세기에 유행하던 화목이었고 이러한 길상적 의미의 소재를 함께 그린 양상은 19세기 말기에 잡화병 등이 성행하는데 토대가 되었음을 알 수 있다.

Teori og praksis i blomstermaler I.L. Jensens tegneundervisning

Through close analysis of an unpublished body of drawings and teaching material kept at the Norwegian manor of Rosendal, close to Bergen, as well as material from the Royal Library in Copenhagen and the Danish Art Library, it is possible to reconstruct step-by-step the process by which Danish flower painter Johan Lauritz Jensen (1800–1856) taught drawing to his many pupils during the first half of the nineteenth century. This allows us to conclude that Jensen closely followed academic tradition as he had learned it at the Royal Academy of Art in his youth, where instruction followed very precise stipulations, proceeding from the simple to the more complex, with the aim to produce idealised images closely based on tightly controlled reference material such as prints and drawings. The underlying philosophy at the time was that the purpose of art was to capture the ideal beyond the temporal world. In the case of flower painting, this was best achieved by working systematically to construct arrangements that would be entirely implausible in reality. The Norwegian material furthermore includes a number of prints and drawings by I.L. Jensen that must have been acquired by the daughters of the estate while they were studying in Copenhagen in the years 1831–35. The evidence provided by this material makes it clear that they were taught not by Jensen, as has previously been assumed, but rather by the contemporary flower painter Christine Løvmand (1803–1872).

Emil Nolde: retrospective

Known as a master of colour, Emil Nolde used many different types of media besides painting, including watercolor, drawing, and prints, to create works such as his numerous flower paintings and coastal landscapes. The book explores Nolde's expressionist painting technique and reexamines Nolde's motives as an artist, by looking at how his works were received and how this was shaped by the artist's image of himself. As well as featuring Nolde's lesser studied early and late paintings and previously unpublished works this volume also presents the latest research on Nolde's work and his relationship to National Socialism. The book accompanies an extensive retrospective exhibition on Nolde's work.

The Search for the Perfect Color: Pigments, Tints, and Binders in the Scientific Expeditions to the Americas

In the eighteenth century, the Spanish Crown underwrote several expeditions in order to collect, classify, and describe the newly available natural resources in the Americas. In an attempt to convey scientific information objectively, expedition artists had to depict their specimens with absolute fidelity. Because many of them had not mastered the techniques necessary for botanical illustration, despite their formal training, Jose Celestino Mutis created a school for local artists in the New Kingdom of Granada (present day Colombia). Pigments and dyes that artists could not obtain from Spain or from the major cities in the New World through which they passed were often derived from experimentation with local materials.

Lübeck ligger syd for Kassel. Omkring to breve fra Kamma Rahbek og et mindedigt af Friederike Brun

Marie-Louise Berner: The Flower Painter on His Travels. I.L. Jensen’s Letter from Paris, 1823
 On 15 March 1823, the flower painter Johan Laurentz Jensen (1800–1856) wrote a letter from Paris to his friend the sculptor H.V. Bissen. In it, he describes his journey from Copenhagen across the Netherlands to Paris, and he relates his impressions and experiences, especially during the eight months spent in that city. He describes in detail the salon and the exhibition of contemporary art at the Musée du Luxembourg that year. He also makes a number of observations about his daily life, friends and activities, and lastly states that he is on his way to Sèvres, to paint on porcelain.In addition to publishing the letter in its entirety, this article provides an account of the painter’s background, and an analysis of the experiences related and observations made in the letter. It further provides background on the salon: its format and organizational principles, its location, opening hours, visitors, contents and catalogue. Additionally, detailed commentary is provided on Jensen’s observations on the art at the salon and at the Musée du Luxembourg, as well as on Jensen’s life in the city. The article concludes with an appraisal of the importance of the journey to Jensen and his art.

Blomstermaleren på rejse. I.L. Jensens brev fra Paris 1823

Marie-Louise Berner: The Flower Painter on His Travels. I.L. Jensen’s Letter from Paris, 1823On 15 March 1823, the flower painter Johan Laurentz Jensen (1800–1856) wrote a letter from Paris to his friend the sculptor H.V. Bissen. In it, he describes his journey from Copenhagen across the Netherlands to Paris, and he relates his impressions and experiences, especially during the eight months spent in that city. He describes in detail the salon and the exhibition of contemporary art at the Musée du Luxembourg that year. He also makes a number of observations about his daily life, friends and activities, and lastly states that he is on his way to Sèvres, to paint on porcelain.In addition to publishing the letter in its entirety, this article provides an account of the painter’s background, and an analysis of the experiences related and observations made in the letter. It further provides background on the salon: its format and organizational principles, its location, opening hours, visitors, contents and catalogue. Additionally, detailed commentary is provided on Jensen’s observations on the art at the salon and at the Musée du Luxembourg, as well as on Jensen’s life in the city. The article concludes with an appraisal of the importance of the journey to Jensen and his art.

Actually Drawing Characters of Flower and Bird Paintings in the Late Period of Joseon Dynasty

Actually Drawing Characters of Flower and Bird Paintings in the Late Period of Joseon Dynasty

조선시대 민화 ＜연화도＞ 콘텐츠를 활용한 문화상품 개발

This study aims to collect Minhwa, or folk painting, particularly the Lotus Flower Painting, to analyze its formative characteristics and related story, and to develop cultural fashion products by utilizing Korean traditional culture and modern flavor based on the results. Lotus flowers grow from mud, but are unstained, and they bloom beautiful flowers. Thus, they symbolize Gunja, a true gentleman who is very learned and proper in behavior. In Buddhism, lotus flowers are divine flowers that have the meaning of the creation of life and the eternal cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Lotus flowers also represent the love between man and woman as well as conjugal harmony and love. Lotus flower painting includes the paintings of the lotus flower alone as well as the paintings of the lotus flower with ducks, white heron, kingfisher, fish, butterfly, crab, or tortoise. Colors that are mostly used in lotus flower paintings is the compatible combination of red and blue (green). Based on these findings, fashion products such as bag accessories, sitting cushions, and kitchen utensils are developed using various designs such as realistically drawn lotus flower, schematized lotus flower, the lotus flower alone, or the lotus flower with kingfisher, crab, or dragonfly, that emphasizing the compatible color combination of red and blue.

Not Only Prints: Early Republic-Era Visual Culture Research at the Library Company of Philadelphia

Scholars, the general public, and special collections libraries are increasingly aware of the importance of visual images in examining the past. With the proliferation of sophisticated digitization technologies, researchers now have the opportunity to "see" images in new ways. No longer considered secondary to text and used merely to illustrate the written word, visual materials are taking their rightful place as primary evidence that document the past and influences our understanding of the present. The Library Company of Philadelphia supports this continuing focus on the historical importance of visual culture.

The Floral Poetics of Schumann's Blumenstück, Op. 19

Abstract Robert Schumann's Blumenstück, op. 19, a short piano piece dating from 1839, is generally not included among the composer's more poetically inspired or formally adventurous pieces. Thanks in part to Schumann's own disparaging remarks about the piece, Blumenstück, like the stylistically similar Arabeske, op. 18, has been viewed as a fairly straightforward effort to appeal to amateur consumers—especially women consumers—of domestic piano music. Rather than recuperate Schumann's piece through a revelation of its structural achievements, this article links the piece's mixed aesthetic status to the similar standing of flowers (and the genre of flower painting to which Schumann's title alludes) in early-nineteenth-century German culture. Emblematic of women and the expression of conventional sentiments, flowers nonetheless constituted a remarkably evocative symbol in Romantic literature. Sentimental and Romantic discourses of the flower converged in the trope of Blumensprache (the language of flowers), an idea that found expression in both popular manuals cataloguing the meanings of flowers and the more esoteric environments of Schumann's criticism, E. T. A. Hoffmann's tales, and Heinrich Heine's poetry. In each of these venues, flowers served as imaginary conduits joining mundane and transcendent realms. Drawing on the work of Friedrich Kittler, I argue that Schumann's Blumenstück, with its conflicting imperatives of pleasure and instruction, congenial melody and motivic intertwining, conflates aesthetic and reception-based categories in a related manner and, as a result, undermines traditional means of generic classification.

Wounds of the soul: Reflections on Inge Hyson's The mindful garden

Plant portraiture has never received good press, yet, perversely, the genre remains one of the most popular and therefore indispensable forms of visual art in the twenty-first century. Despite—or perhaps due to—its popularity, the depiction of plants is under-researched and undervalued by theorists and critics in the arts (Arnold 2001). Arguably, plant portraiture suffers from its inherent charm, its anthropomorphic qualities, and an uncomfortable association with popular ideas of happiness, loyalty and love, and their binary opposites, despair, betrayal and bereavement.This review takes as its point of departure a connection between the sale of an Andy Warhol painting in 2006 and an exhibition of plant portraiture presented within the context of an academic endeavour and pedagogical environment in 2010. It considers the vicissitudes of plant portraiture from 1946–2009, and draws attention to the self-censorship an artist arguably feels herself obliged to undertake within the context of the perceived pariah status of flower painting. The review aims to broaden critical discussion of the genre and, finally, reflects on why it is that flowers ‘so often come to be taken as the representative object of imagining’ (Scarry 2005).

French, Floral and Female: A History of UnAustralian Art 1900–1930

In this essay, which is another instalment in the authors' ongoing project of writing a history of 'UnAustralian' art in the 20th century, the period 1900 to 1930 is characterised in terms of three adjectives: 'French', 'floral' and 'female'. 'French' because so much of Australian art history took place in France, or in relation to France, during the period. 'Floral' because so much of this history can be understood in terms of flower painting, often included in still lifes and interiors, as opposed to the prevailing 'gum tree' nationalism enshrined after the War. 'Female' because, extending the existing accounts by women art historians, the entire period can be understood as feminine in character. This 'UnAustralian' account breaks with the importance attributed both to Norah Simpson bringing back books on Cubism in 1913 and to Grace Cossington-Smith's The Sock Knitter (1915) as the first signs of modernism in Australia, and to the War as an event that dramatically changed the course of Australian art history, either by sending Australian artists for the first time overseas or by explaining the prominence of women in Australian art after the War. To think Australian art 1900-1930 as 'French, floral and female' is to imagine a different account from the usual nationalist one, to reconceive a history that has remained fundamentally unaltered since William Moore's The Story of Australian Art (1934).

Disclosure in Biographically-Based Fiction: The Challenges of Writing Narratives Based on True Life Stories

Disclosure in Biographically-Based Fiction: The Challenges of Writing Narratives Based on True Life Stories

Flower Paintings by Late Qing Painter Zhao Zhiqian

Flower Paintings by Late Qing Painter Zhao Zhiqian

Flower Men: The Australian Canon and Flower Painting 1910-1935

Flower Men: The Australian Canon and Flower Painting 1910-1935