Studio: international art (31.1904)

Japanese Flower Painting

Although the perfect understanding of flower the pictures in his brain, and on the accuracy
arrangement requires so much study that only a of his impressions and the training of his hand
few can give the time and attention it demands, depend the final result. In the West, the
yet the general principles governing the art seem painter of flowers usually copies directly from
to be so widely under-
stood in Japan that it is
seldom a group of cut
flowers is arranged in a
vase in other than ex-
quisite taste.

Now it is particularly
necessary, in approaching
the subject of Japanese
flower-painting, to bear in
mind the tender apprecia-
tion which the people of
the Far East bear to-
wards plants and flowers.
Just as the gardener
prunes away offending and
unnecessary branches, just
as the flower arranger
makes use only of such
flowers and leaves as are
requisite to the beauty
and perfection of his com-
position, so the painter
retains in his work only
the salient features which
are most characteristic of
the plant he depicts.
The Japanese painter, as a
rule, draws from memory.
He has, by careful
observation, stored up in
his brain pictures of the
chief characteristics of
the objects he wishes to
reproduce. He is trained
to pay attention to minute
details, like the native
Indian boy so graphically
descrided by Rudyard
Kipling in "Kim." The
branching of the stems,
the nature of the bark,
the budding of the leaf,
the arrangement of the
petals, the pose of the
flower, the ravages caused
by insects and natural
decay, all are noted for
future use. In painting,
therefore, he works from floral fans by korin

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