Winter 2007/08

In Celebration of Nature's Timely Blooming: Flowers of the Four Seasons in Japanese Art

December 4, 2007 through March 29, 2008
The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 1-5 PM
Closed on national holidays.

Deep love of nature and careful attention to even its smallest forms and details are often mentioned as some of the noteworthy aspects of Japanese art. In pre-modern Japan, however, there was no clear conception of (or word for) nature; rather than existing as something apart from the social realm, natural forces were treated as one with the human experience. This mingling of "human" and "natural" leads to a starkly different appreciation of "nature" in Japan, with plants, animals and natural forms seen as part of the human order. In poetry and in art, plants and animals became symbols for certain aspects, experiences, or types of human beings, and were organized according to a system of seasonal representation that only partly followed natural cycles of growth and bloom. Moreover, certain schools or groups of artists favored certain natural subjects as more in keeping with their own values and interests, partly in reaction to their structure of patronage.

In our winter exhibition, The Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture brings some color and life to the darkest season of the year by exploring Japanese artists' varied uses of flowers as subjects in their paintings and designs. While tracing the various flowers through the seasons, this exhibition also examines some of the major styles of Japanese painting, and their relationship with these natural forms. Literati artists, for example, heavily favored paintings of orchids, plum and chrysanthemums (three of the "four gentleman" plants), often sparely rendered in ink alone, with a strong emphasis on brushwork. By sharp contrast, artists of the Rinpa school took all manner of flowers as their subjects, stressing their colorfulness and lovely forms through pooled pigments and smooth, rounded stylizations. Flower subjects also figured prominently in many of the other schools, Kanõ, Tosa, Ukiyo-e, Shijõ and independent, represented in the show, as well as in patterns used on lacquers, ceramics and textiles, which appear as accents alongside the hanging scrolls and screens, showing how flower themes were used in decorative design.

The exhibition will open on December 4, 2007 and close on March 29, 2008.

Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday 1-5 pm. Closed on national holidays. Admission: $5 for adults, $3 for students with valid ID. Children 12 and under free.

Weekly docent tours are held Saturdays at 1pm and guided group tours can be arranged by calling the Center in advance at 559.582.4915.

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