Selected Insects from Close at Hand (Chūka senzen 肘下選蠕) Possibly 1820 - 1827
morishunkei
minneapolisinstituteofart
drawing, print, watercolor, ink
drawing
asian-art
landscape
ukiyo-e
figuration
watercolor
ink
coloured pencil
"Selected Insects from Close at Hand (Chūka senzen 肘下選蠕)" is a painting by the Japanese artist Mori Shunkei, dating back to 1820-1827. The work, housed at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, is a delicate depiction of insects resting on lotus leaves and pods. Shunkei's meticulous brushwork captures the intricate details of the insects and the serene beauty of the natural world. The painting exemplifies the naturalist approach of the "Close at Hand" genre prevalent in Japanese art, which focused on the observation and portrayal of everyday scenes from nature.
Comments
In this finely printed book, images of insects and plants alternate with pages of Chinese poetry. In the nineteenth century1800s, Japanese publishers began to print heavily illustrated books with little or no text, usually with no narrative thread. Scholars posit that poetry books such as this one served as the intermediary step between books with just only text and those with just only images: books of poetry served as an in-between as publishers noticed that images could give rise to new poetry once the texts were separated from the illustrations. Color woodblock-printed books were more expensive and labor-intensive than those printed with ink. Each color required necessitated a separate woodblock, and a single colored image required a printer to print on the same sheet multiple times. This publication also presents the illustrations as if they are prints by omitting the typical framing lines seen in books, allowing the picture to extend from one page to another.
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