Orchids 1870

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drawing, paper, ink

drawing

asian-art

landscape

japan

paper

ink

calligraphy

Dimensions 10 × 16 3/4 × 5/8 in. (25.4 × 42.55 × 1.59 cm) (open)

Okuhara Seiko painted this fan with ink on paper. The orchids here are not merely decorative. In East Asian art, they symbolize refinement, elegance, and purity. Moreover, the orchid is a potent emblem of spring and, by extension, of renewal and rebirth. The orchid's delicate, swaying form reminds me of Botticelli's Venus, reborn from the sea. The curves mirror the sinuous lines of the orchid, both embodying the essence of femininity and grace. But while Venus arises in full bloom, the orchid suggests a subtler, internal blossoming, a secret language of growth. This echoes a profound psychological aspect: the quiet unfolding of potential, hidden beneath the surface. The orchid, like a dream, whispers of hidden desires and unspoken beauty, engaging us in a silent dialogue across centuries.

Comments

minneapolisinstituteofart over 1 year ago

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Treasured since ancient times by Chinese and Japanese literati and a popular subject among scholar-painters, orchids of the genus Cymbidium are known for their highly fragrant boat-shaped flowers that rise on stems from clumps of elongated leaves and for their ability to grow almost anywhere, even in poor soil; they have thus long served as symbols of fortitude. This ink painting of fragrant cymbidiums clinging to an overhanging rock is an early work by Okuhara Seiko, who made her debut in artistic and literary circles of Tokyo only five years earlier. By her mid-thirties she had become one of the most successful artists in the city in a field dominated by men, with at one time as many as 300 students working beneath her. Nearly all her paintings are accompanied by self-composed Chinese-style verse: Amid the mountains, orchids aspire to grow as freely as weeds;leaves warm themselves and flowers flutter, saturated with the spirit of the season.The orchid sends forth its fragrance; never extending too far,it wafts past the dirt and dust of the everyday world.