Bijin

Japanese painting on silk, ca 1930. This is a very straightforward and simple painting in one sense, because a large amount of negative space is behind and around the figure. This technique, rather than making the image lonely or isolated in space, has become a dramatizing element whereby the entire focus is on the central image of the young beauty. The painting is signed by an undocumented artist, Ko Nen, and there is a seal area with an art name, San Ko. This is not an uncommon circumstance with Japanese and Chinese paintings where an artist is, at casual moments or relaxed circumstances, painting things not intended to be taken as major works of art, but more as expressions of inspiration and grasping the nature of a particular image or circumstance.

工笔仕女。昭和（1930）。设色绢本立轴。质优。