Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The Heritage Trust
Preserving the Past for the Future
About Me
- Littlestone
- Studied art and design at Swindon School of Art, Wiltshire, England and afterwards Japanese painting and calligraphy at Kyoto University of Fine Arts, Kyoto, Japan. In 1966 I was a lay monk at the Zen Buddhist temple of Ryozen-an in Kyoto and practiced under the guidance of its Director, Ruth Fuller-Sasaki and senior monk Dana R Fraser (co-translator of Layman P'ang: A Ninth Century Zen Classic). Also present at Ryozen-an was the author and poet Gary Snyder. Gary Snyder was one of the first Westerners in Japan to study Zen Buddhism and was the inspiration for Jack Kerouac's book, The Dharma Bums. I was assistant conservator (paintings) at Kyoto National Museum from 1969-1980 and Chief Conservator (Eastern Pictorial Art) at the British Museum from 1980-1986. Japan Foundation Fellow 1973-1974 and Fellow of the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works since 1985.
3 comments:
The painting consists of - correct me if i'm mistaken - of a sea horse, a bee and it's associated hive.
The sea horse perhaps relates to the sea-faring Tribe of Dan and the horse being one of their totem beasts.
http://www.cai.org/bible-studies/israels-emblems-then-and-now
Similarly, the Bee references also.
The beehive is also representative of the matriarchal womb - even more relevant as the painting is located in a castle/tower....another similar representation.
I think the picture of the horse is in actual fact the Uffington White horse, which is supposed to be the totemic symbol of the Iron Age tribe or people who lived at Uffington Castle I/A fort. Archaeological evidence points to the carving of the horse coming from the celtic period
Moss
Post a Comment