Ogata Kōrin, Red

and White Plum

Blossoms
Katelynn, Robin, Regina, Nina

At a Glance
● Title: Red and White Plum
Blossoms
● Artist: Ogata Kōrin
● Date: early 18th-century
●
●
Period / Culture: Edo period
Original Location: Japan
● Scale/ Size: 67 in. in height
● Patron: Tsugaru family
● Materials: paper, organic
pigments, gold leaf, ink
● Techniques: tarashikomi: dilute
washes of color blended while wet
(thick watercolor) + mokkotsu:
“bonelessness”; creates forms
without exterior outlines; gold
leaf on paper
Subject Matter/Content
● A pair of two fold screens that depict white and red plum blossom trees,
separated by a stream
● Korin’s work often consist of images of bare essentials and dramatic
emphasis on form, colors, and textures
Symbolism
● Elegant pattern = rhythmical flow of water
○ Metallic swirls, spirals
● Stream = life: the wide beginning represents youth, strength,
opportunity
● White plum tree = old, thin = calm, stable mind
● Red plum tree = youth and strength
○ Color red = positivity of Korin’s youth
Contextual Issues
● Red and White Plum Blossoms exemplifies a style: epitomizes Japanese art
○ Impacted modernism in the West (esp. Guztav Klimt)
● Abstraction and naturalism combination: referred to as Rimpa (School os
Kôrin
○ But Kôrin actually just was at the forefront of a loose mvt of like-minded artists and
designers
● Korin comes from the machishu (class of merchants & artists who rose to position of wealth
and power), who were paid by nobles to create art pieces for their homes
○ Due to affiliation with court culture, Korin often depicted themes from literature and
poetry favored by the nobility
 Formal Qualities
● Landscape theme—two
flowering trees on either side
of a brook—into a dream
vision
● Black ink, blotchy washes of
gem-like mineral color
● Background is gold-leaf
● Ethereal glow
● Stream: swelling metallic
curls; flowing water
(serpentine)
Intended Audience
● Long held by the Tsugaru family
● Not exactly specified but could be Kyoto’s merchants and wealthy
● Admirers of nature
● People living in Japan
Function
● To exaggerate and evoke the sense of nature and its mystical and dreamlike
qualities
● Envelop the viewer in “spring”
● Korin took into consideration the function of the folding screen door within
the context of an interior space
Meaning
● Laid the foundations for the Rinpa school
● Reveals the increase in nobility’s enjoyment of art
● Cross cultural exchange (influence Western art)
Related Themes/Works
● Naturalism
● Under the Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave)