Tag Archives: Animals

Twelve Hours of the Green Houses (1795), by Kitagawa Utamaro

17 Saturday Sep 2016

Posted by in Art, Japonisme

≈ 4 Comments

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midnight-the-hour-of-the-rat

Kitagawa Utamaro (ca. 1753 – 31 October 1806)

Twelve Hours of the Green Houses (1794–1795)
(Photo credit: Wikipaintings) 

Love to every one ♥

These are Utamaro’s depiction of each of the twelve hours of the traditional Japanese clock. The Hours constitute a series of ukiyo-e (“pictures of the floating world”) prints. Utamaro is the first of the three Japanese artists I have featured. His bijinga, or bi-jinga (“beautiful person picture”) earned him fame. 

Animals

Each hour is named after an animal. Japan has its bestiary, except that the symbolism attached to Oriental animals often differs from the symbolism attached to animals inhabiting the Western bestiary. The significance of each animal has little to do with the “real” or mythical animal.  These animals are anthropomorphic, i.e. humans in disguise.

Hours

In the Western world, we have Books of Hours based on the Liber Usualis and the Rule of Benedict. The Liber Usualis is a compendium of Gregorian chants rooted in Western monasticism. There are eight Canonical Hours observed by monks.

As for Books of Hours, they are religious in spirit, but were made for lay Christians. Les Riches Heures de Jean de France, Duc de Berry features exquisite illuminations, from enluminures (FR), and fine calligraphy. The Fitzwilliam Book of Hours is also an exceptional work of art.

Human beings have chronicled time, beginning with hours. However, months are also chronicled as are seasons: soltices and equinoxes. Meisho (“famous places”) prints show not only famous places, but people going about their everyday activities or domestic duties and some are divided according to seasons. Utagawa Hiroshige‘s series, One Hundred Famous Views of Edo is divided into seasons.

  1. The Hour of the Rat: 23 – 1h
  2. The Hour of the Ox: 1 -3h
  3. The Hour of the Tiger: 3 – 5h
  4. The Hour of the Hare: 5 – 7h
  5. The Hour of the Dragon: 7 – 9h (alternate image)
  6. The Hour of the Snake: 9 – 11h (alternate image)
  7. The Hour of the Horse: 11 – 13h (altermate image)
  8. The Hour of the Sheep: 13 – 15h (alternate images)*
  9. The Hour of the Monkey: 15 – 17h
  10. The Hour of the Rooster: 17 – 19h (alternate image)
  11. The Hour of the Dog: 19 – 21h
  12. The Hour of the Boar: 21 – 23h
 
The Hour of the Ramin
(Twelve Hours of the Green House)
*Twelve Hours of the Yoshiwara (to my knowledge, an alternate title)
& Twelve Hours of the Yoshiwara
 

Image at the foot of this post

‘Midori of the Hinataka’
from The Hour of the Rat
 

RELATED ARTICLES 

1. (above) 2. 3. 4. (below)

the-hour-of-the-oxxthe-hour-of-the-tigerthe-hour-of-the-hare

5. 6. 7. 8.the-hour-of-the-dragon (1) 9. 10. 11. 12.

hour-of-the-snake-1794.jpg!Blog

the-hour-of-the-horse-1126r37d

the-hour-of-the-monkey

the-hour-of-the-cock

the-hour-of-the-dogthe-hour-of-the-boar

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 midori-of-the-hinataka-from-the-hour-of-the-rat
© Micheline Walker
17 July 2013

Eugène Delacroix’s “Mandarin Drake”

05 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by in Art, Music, Romanticism

≈ 6 Comments

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A Mandarin Drake, by Eugene Delacroix

A Mandarin Drake, by Eugène Delacroix (Photo credit: WikiArt.org)

Eugène Delacroix (13 August 1863) is one of the most accomplished artists associated with Romanticism. He was also one of the most prolific and versatile artists of the early nineteenth-century. Hence the breadth of his influence.

His “Mandarin Drake” is a watercolour. But as an artist, Delacroix also used pen, chalk, graphite, pastels, and oil. In fact, he was a fine lithographer who illustrated various literary works by William Shakespeare, Walter Scott and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The paintings of Rubens were a source of inspiration to Delacroix. Moreover, he was a friend of Théodore Géricault (1791 -1824), and Géricault’s “spiritual heir.” (See Eugène Delacroix, Wikipedia.) Géricault completed his Raft of the Medusa, Le Radeau de la Méduse, at the age of 27, and his horses are magnificent.

Delacroix is known mainly for his “Liberty Guiding the People” (1830), a painting that captures the “genius,” or essence, of Revolutions. However, although the video at the foot of this post presents “Liberty Guiding the People” and reveals a more intense Delacroix, I have assembled works that show other and, at times, seemingly simpler facets of Delacroix’s art.

The work featured at the top of this post is one of my favourites. It shows a drake, a Mandarin drake or mallard (canard mallard, canard colvert [green neck]).

Delacroix’s subject matter also consisted of flowers and studies of flowers, simple branches. Moreover, he travelled abroad seizing a less familiar beauty. The Romantics loved the exotic.

However, the art of this “Romantic” tends to override the notion of movements, which may of course be true of most great artists.

Photo credit: WikiArt.org (all images)

Please click on the lower part of each image to see its title. The pictures may be enlarged and viewed as a video (press escape to exit). I just discovered this WordPress feature.

 

Study of Flowers, 1845-1850
Two Branches with Leaves (pen, ink, watercolour)
House in a Grove (Bocage)
The Coast of Spain at Salabrena
Horse (Cheval) (watercolour)

For “The Cottage in a Grove,” 1838, Delacroix used a pen, chalk, and ink. “The Coast of Spain at Salabrena” is a watercolour, dated 1832. Delacroix’s  “Study of Flowers” is a later work, executed between 1845 and 1850. “The Portrait of Turk in a Turban” (1826) was produced with pastels. For his magnificent tiger (below, 1830), Delacroix used a pencil and watercolours.

 

Portrait of a Turk in a Turban
Seated Arab in Tangier, 1832

 

Tiger, 1830

Yet, we have Willibald von Gluck at the “clavecin” composing the score of his Armide (1831). This painting is a watercolour and “European.” A clavecin is a harpsichord. However, the instrument Gluck is using resembles my grandfather’s humble spinet, a type of harpsichord.

 

Willibald von Gluck at the clavecin composing the score of his Armide

Today is not a blogging day. But pictures are worth a thousand words, so I have used pictures to let you know that I am still blogging, but at a slower pace.

However, I should let you know that Eugène Delacroix is rumoured to be an illegitimate son of Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord. Talleyrand looked after the children he fathered. One was born to Madame de Flahaut and was named Charles-Joseph, comte de Flahaut. Everyone knew Charles-Joseph was Talleyrand’s son. In turn, Charles-Joseph, comte de Flahaut, became the lover of Hortense de Beauharnais (Napoleon’s stepdaughter and sister-in-law) and fathered the duc de Morny, a half-brother to Napoleon III.

Consequently, Delacroix was a protégé of the enigmatic Talleyrand (his father) and, later, a protégé of the Duc de Morny (Talleyrand’s grandson), whose brother ruled France.

My best regards to all of you.

Bouquet of Flowers, by Eugène Delacroix

Bouquet of Flowers, by Eugène Delacroix (Photo credit: WikiArts.org)

Delacroix

Frédéric Chopin
Nocturne, Opus 9 N° 2
Video by Philip Scott Johnson 
 
Chopin
Chopin, by Delacroix
 
© Micheline Walker
5 June 2014
WordPress  

 

 

 

Twelve Hours of the Green Houses (1795), by Kitagawa Utamaro

17 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by in Art, Japonisme

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

midnight-the-hour-of-the-rat

Kitagawa Utamaro (ca. 1753 – 31 October 1806)

Twelve Hours of the Green Houses (1794–1795)
(Photo credit: Wikipaintings)
 

These are Utamaro’s depiction of each of the twelve hours of the traditional Japanese clock. The Hours constitute a series of ukiyo-e (“pictures of the floating world”) prints. Utamaro is the first of the three Japanese artists I have featured. His bijinga (“beautiful person picture”) earned him fame. 

Animals

Each hour is named after an animal. Japan has its bestiary, except that the symbolism attached to Oriental animals often differs from the symbolism attached to animals inhabiting the Western bestiary. The significance of each animal has little to do with the “real” or mythical animal.  These animals are anthropomorphic, i.e. humans in disguise.

Hours

In the Western world, we have Books of Hours based on the Liber Usualis and the Rule of Benedict. The Liber Usualis is a compendium of Gregorian chants rooted in Western monasticism. There are eight Canonical Hours observed by monks.

As for Books of Hours, they are religious in spirit, but were made for lay Christians. Les Riches Heures de Jean de France, Duc de Berry features exquisite illuminations, from enluminures (FR), and fine calligraphy. The Fitzwilliam Book of Hours is also an exceptional work of art.

Human beings have chronicled time, beginning with hours. However, months are also chronicled as are seasons: soltices and equinoxes. Meisho (“famous places”) prints show not only famous places, but people going about their everyday activities or domestic duties and some are divided according to seasons. Utagawa Hiroshige‘s series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo is divided into seasons.

  1. The Hour of the Rat: 23 – 1h
  2. The Hour of the Ox: 1 -3h
  3. The Hour of the Tiger: 3 – 5h
  4. The Hour of the Hare: 5 – 7h
  5. The Hour of the Dragon: 7 – 9h (alternate image)
  6. The Hour of the Snake: 9 – 11h (alternate image)
  7. The Hour of the Horse: 11 – 13h (altermate image)
  8. The Hour of the Sheep: 13 – 15h (alternate images)*
  9. The Hour of the Monkey: 15 – 17h
  10. The Hour of the Rooster: 17 – 19h (alternate image)
  11. The Hour of the Dog: 19 – 21h
  12. The Hour of the Boar: 21 – 23h
 
The Hour of the Ramin
(Twelve Hours of the Green House)
*Twelve Hours of the Yoshiwara (to my knowledge, an alternate title)
& Twelve Hours of the Yoshiwara
 

Image at the foot of this post

‘Midori of the Hinataka’
from The Hour of the Rat
 

RELATED ARTICLES 

1. (above) 2. 3. 4. (below)

the-hour-of-the-oxxthe-hour-of-the-tigerthe-hour-of-the-hare

5. 6. 7. 8.the-hour-of-the-dragon (1) 9. 10. 11. 12.

hour-of-the-snake-1794.jpg!Blog

the-hour-of-the-horse-1126r37d

the-hour-of-the-monkey

the-hour-of-the-cock

the-hour-of-the-dogthe-hour-of-the-boar

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 midori-of-the-hinataka-from-the-hour-of-the-rat
© Micheline Walker
17 July 2013