Title
Dragon and Tiger, 1500s. Creator: Sesson Sh?kei (Japanese, 1504-1589).
Caption
Dragon and Tiger, 1500s. These paired creatures represent the elements of water and wind in Chinese cosmology: the dragon?s swirling form conjures rain clouds, and the tiger embodies the wind?s terrible, unpredictable force. Former CMA director Sherman Lee found in Sesson?s paintings intimations of a developing Japanese style distinct from Chinese predecessors. Here, parody and pattern are at the forefront. The formidable, awe-inspiring tiger takes on the demeanor of a curious house cat, and a once-snarling dragon?s face morphs into an oddly befuddled human expression. Such exaggerated, humorously rendered faces suggest a gentle domestication of these primal forces. Lee described Sesson?s work as inhabiting a world of aesthetic awareness, in which brushstroke and pattern are primary and where waves are "arranged in graceful and rhythmically repetitive reflex curves, primarily decorative shapes and only secondarily water and foam."
Credit line
Photo12/Heritage Images/Heritage Art
Reference
HRM19F78_372
Model release
NA
Property release
NA
License type
Droits gérés
Available size
64.6Mo (4.7Mo) / 56.4cm x 28.7cm / 6660 x 3391 (300dpi)