Works of bamboo painting, usually in ink, are a recognized genre of East Asian painting. In a work of bamboo painting in ink, a skilled artist and calligrapher will paint a bamboo stalk or group of stalks with leaves. The contrast between the foreground and background, and between the varying textures represented by the stalks and the leaves, gave scope to the painter to demonstrate his or her mastery with an inkpot and a brush.[1]
The bamboo painter often inscribes a poem that accompanies the painting and further elucidates the motif. The poem is often an integral part of the work as a whole. A viewer of the work can compare the calligraphy of the poem with the calligraphy of the painting, as both are typically inscribed with the same brush and reflect a similar mood and state of awareness.
A standard primer on classical East Asian bamboo painting is Hu Zhengyan's "Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Painting and Calligraphy" (1633), with woodblock print illustrations. Because of the volume of bamboo works painted over time, the production of a work of ink bamboo became one of the standard subjects to which an East Asian student could be set in a competitive examination.[1]
Like bamboo painting, bambooworking is found across East Asia as bamboo is regarded as culturally significant.
- ^ a b "Ink Bamboo". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Archived from the original on 2009-03-31. Retrieved 2009-07-02.