Harvard Art Museums> TL41729.16: Lotus Pond Paintings Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Lotus Pond (Okutani Shūseki 奥谷秋石) , TL41729.16,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Mar 26, 2023, https://hvrd.art/o/340568. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Gallery Text Lotuses rise annually from the muddy depths of ponds to bloom with sublime beauty before setting seed, decaying, and disappearing once more. The unearthly flower has long been understood as a symbol of Buddhist enlightenment and rebirth. This large-scale iteration of a lotus pond is painted on two movable screens—ideal for display in Japan’s earliest public exhibitions, initiated in the late 19th century to support the formulation of a representatively "Japanese" aesthetic on the world stage. Shūseki paints the sacred subject matter in a contemporary neoclassical idiom, using the established technique of puddling ink and gold to realize the plant in naturalistic and expressionistic modes simultaneously. The addition of a kingfisher in the right screen and a dragonfly in the left, both captured in the instant before taking wing, poignantly infuses temporal specificity into the otherwise timeless subject. Identification and Creation Object Number TL41729.16 People Okutani Shūseki 奥谷秋石, Japanese (1871 - 1936) Title Lotus Pond Classification Paintings Work Type painting, screen Date late 19th - early 20th century Places Creation Place: East Asia, Japan Period Meiji era, 1868-1912 Culture Japanese Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/340568 Physical Descriptions Medium Pair of two-panel folding screens; ink, color, and gold on silk Dimensions image only, each panel: 170.5 x 93.3 cm (67 1/8 x 36 3/4 in.) with mount, each panel: 175.5 x 95 cm (69 1/8 x 37 3/8 in.) Inscriptions and Marks signature: 秋石道人筆 [Shūseki dōjin hitsu] seal: round, relief: 洗耳窟 [Senji kutsu] Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Promised gift of Robert S. and Betsy G. Feinberg Object Number TL41729.16 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Publication History Rachel Saunders and Yukio Lippit, Painting Edo: Selections from the Feinberg Collection of Japanese Art, exh. cat. (Cambridge, MA, 2020), pp. 98-99, fig. 85 Exhibition History 32Q: 2600 East Asian, Japanese, Chinese and Korean, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/29/2021 - 07/17/2022 Painting Edo: Japanese Art from the Feinberg Collection, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 02/14/2020 - 06/06/2021 Subjects and Contexts Google Art Project Related Articles Haiku and You: Painting Edo and the Arnold Arboretum Art Talks, Collections, People April 29, 2021 Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
