Birds Amid Cherry Blossoms, Tsubaki Chinzan

Exhibition Label: Asian Gallery, Summer 2003, Youmi Efurd (Didactic panel) Flora & Fauna Chinese bird-and-flower painting, fostered by imperial patronage, flourished during the Song dynasty (960-1297). The Song emperor Huizong (r. 1101-1126) himself was a painter of flower and bird subjects of considerable renown, and under his patronage the Court Academy fostered the tradition as never before, or indeed since. Huizong’s preference was for the most literal renderings of the details of nature. The notion of the Court Academy, which had been established by Huizong in the Song, was restored in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The early Ming Academy of painters reinvigorated the genre of flower and bird painting-adopting the Song style of rendering images in meticulous detail-which continued into the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). In Chinese tradition, the meaning of the flower and bird symbolism is multi-layered. It could be aesthetic, philosophical, religious, and even political, according to the context. The motifs of plants and birds could be used to express an endless range of meanings and sentiments. Chinese bird-and-flower painting was transmitted to Japan by Chinese visitors during the Edo period (1615-1868). As so often happened in Japanese cultural history, native artists made new combinations of traditions that had been kept distinct in China. Academic and literati influences from China were often mixed together with the Japanese preference for dramatic asymmetrical compositions and evocative brushwork. This led to a new form of bird and flower painting that owed much to China and yet was fully expressive of the Japanese spirit. Exhibition Label: Asian Gallery, Summer 2003, Youmi Efurd Tsubaki Chinzan painted Birds Amid Cherry Blossoms when he was only 27 years old, using a “boneless” technique where he brushed the pigment directly onto the silk without the use of outlines. Although extremely fine boundary lines are evident, these were formed by the pigment as it flowed to the outer edges of the painted areas at the moment before the silk fully accepted the moisture. This technique, though used by a number of artists, was masterfully employed by Chinzan and became a special feature of his work.