Kannon
1890
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1890
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Kannon is a 1890 unspecified by Unknown, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
A golden figure floats on two lotus flowers, robes swirling like water. Tiny flames dance along the edges, and a small Buddha sits in the figure’s crown. This painting copies the look of much older Korean Buddhist art—thin, see-through shawls and soft lines. The artist tried to keep that old style alive even as Japan changed fast around him. To see how the old style really looked, search for paintings from the Korean Goryeo period (918–1392).
The bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Kannon in Japanese) stands with each of his feet upon a lotus blossom. The Buddha Amitabha (Amida in Japanese) appears in his headdress. The text written in golden characters attached to the top of the painting is a portion of a religious text extolling the virtues of the bodhisattva. The painter was inspired by Buddhist paintings of the Korean Goreyo period (918–1392); he attempted to reproduce the diaphanous shawl sometimes seen in such early works.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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