The soft and pliable brush quickly consumes the ink within its fibers, and I begin my personal journey with the meditation of Sumi-e painting. Sumi-e is a form of traditional Eastern Asian painting. Originating in China. The goal of this form of painting is not capturing photographic likeness of an object, but rather its spirit. A successful Sumi-e painter combines simplicity with deep meaning. Paintings are often judged upon their use of simple brush strokes, unity within the art form, and the poem that it is often accompanied with. Japanese, Korean, and Malaysian people learned this beautiful art from the Chinese and created their own unique versions of it. For this paper I will be focusing on the Japanese from of Sumi-e painting, specifically the history and culture behind it. Although modern day sumi-e paintings can include colors, the traditional art of sumi-e paintings involves only the color black. In oriental paintings black is considered the simplest of all colors.
The soft and pliable brush quickly consumes the ink within its fibers, and I begin my personal journey with the meditation of Sumi-e painting. Sumi-e is a form of traditional Eastern Asian painting. Originating in China. The goal of this form of painting is not capturing photographic likeness of an object, but rather its spirit. A successful Sumi-e painter combines simplicity with deep meaning. Paintings are often judged upon their use of simple brush strokes, unity within the art form, and the poem that it is often accompanied with. Japanese, Korean, and Malaysian people learned this beautiful art from the Chinese and created their own unique versions of it. For this paper I will be focusing on the Japanese from of Sumi-e painting, specifically the history and culture behind it. Although modern day sumi-e paintings can include colors, the traditional art of sumi-e paintings involves only the color black. In oriental paintings black is considered the simplest of all colors.