Wednesday, July 29, 2020

chinese mythology, dragons and stuff by chen rong ... another scrapbook blog to be expanded slowly as & when


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_mythology


the wikipedia article is encyclopaedic ... but i'll skim it and add images that appeal to me


first up ... the real thing ... CHEN RONG's Transformation of Nine Dragons

amazed ... wikipedia and boston have made this fabulous large image available

probably the largest pixel width i've ever downloaded ... 30020 X 1116 pixels

it fits comfortably on the screen and you can see EVERYTHING






chen rong's first inscription, translated by Jacqueline Chao, 2012






























































































































































































first dragon




















second dragon




















third dragon



















fourth dragon



















fifth dragon




















fifth and sixth dragons



















seventh dragon



















eighth dragon



















ninth dragon























then there's maybe CHEN RONG's six dragons ... some doubts about authorship

























and maybe CHEN RONG's five dragons ... ( disputed authorship ... check with Jennifer Purtle  )









Saturday, July 25, 2020

rain in classical chinese and japanese art ... i still don't get it ...

hardly any chinese painters tried to depict falling rain drops ... and in japan the subject seems to have been avoided until hokusai showed up


zhang yucai, painted in the early 1300s  ... beneficent rain ... plenty of cloud and lightning ... but the image is so dark it is hard to distinguish any marks that signify rain as a substance












https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/40454



dai jin, painted in the early 1400s ... clear broad swathes of rain depicted here in "returning home by boat in wind and rain" ...




























hokusai 1817 ... from the seventh book of manga






















hiroshige, 1834 ... sudden shower at shono



















kuniyoshi, 1835 ... nichiren's prayer for rain answered


















my question is ... DID CHINESE ARTISTS POSSIBLY/MAYBE HAVE A SUPERSTITIOUS OR THEOLOGICAL REASON TO AVOID THE SUBJECT OF FALLING RAIN ?


later ... much googling and some serendipity led me to jennifer purtles paper on "zoomorphology" ... i think she tells me much of what i wanted to know ...

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

ai weiwei ... this one might stretch as it goes on

from ai weiwei ...


































https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ai_Weiwei


and shane mccauslands study of Zhao Mengfu ...

























to my paper-and-glue-montage ... let the benificent rain fall on everyone