1908
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Dragon and Orchard is a 1908 by Arthur Wesley Dow, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
The painting shows a dragon in an orchard. It's interesting because the artist was inspired by Japanese designs. The artist used simple shapes and colors to create a unique look, which is similar to the style of chiaroscuro, a technique that uses strong contrasts of light and dark to create depth. To learn more about this style, look up the technique of chiaroscuro.
In his dual roles as artist and teacher, Dow was instrumental in reviving the color woodcut in America at the turn of the 20th century. Impressed by the flat, simplified compositions of Japanese color woodcuts, or ukiyo-e prints, Dow abandoned Western naturalism, with its linear modeling and one-point perspective, in favor of the basic elements of Japanese design: line, form, color, and notan—the harmonious arrangement of dark and light. Although in Japan the artist only executed the drawing—the carving and printing were carried out by craftsmen—Dow did everything himself. Like the Japanese,…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Arthur Wesley Dow (April 6, 1857 – December 13, 1922) was an American painter, printmaker, photographer and an arts educator.
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