Plum Drawn from the Mind, first half 19th century
Baichi Dōjinexpand_more
Ink on paperexpand_more
Gift of Gordon Brodfuehrer in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Minneapolis Institute of Artsexpand_more 2014.109.2
On View in Gallery 237expand_more
The practice of painting blossoming plum branches in monochrome ink seems to have emerged in tenth-century China and became popular among the Japanese literati of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Delicate flowers budding from a wizened plum tree during the winter carry associations of longevity, renewal, and purity. The inscription, shai, meaning ‘drawn from the mind,’ is the opposite of shasei, or ‘sketched from life;’ indeed, this is a particularly free-spirited and imaginative interpretation of this subject. A variety of tones of ink applied in impressionistic splotches with a wet brush convey the vital splendor of a plum tree breaking into a profusion of blossoms at the cusp of spring.
Baichi was a priest of the Pure Land or Jōdo school of Buddhism, known for his poetry, calligraphy, and paintings of landscapes and flora.
Details
- Title
- Plum Drawn from the Mind
- Artist Life
- 1785 - 1859
- Role
- Artist
- Accession Number
- 2014.109.2
- Provenance
- (Watanabe Japanese Fine Arts)
- Curator Approved
This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.
Does something look wrong with this image? Let us know
Zoom in on the left to the detail you'd like to save. Click 'Save detail' and wait until the image updates. Right click the image to 'save image as' or copy link, or click the image to open in a new tab.