Two women in long robes stand arm in arm in a landscape. One figure holds an olive branch in her right hand, and her companion cradles a cornucopia against her hip.
Two men sit on a bench at the lower right. Behind them is a large expanse of water; barges ply the water while smokestacks and buildings are visible on the opposite shore. The overall impression is one of foggy weather and features are generally indistinct.
A muscular figure surrounded by an aureole of light steps down from a plain rectangular tomb. Six soldiers, depicted in a variety of complex postures, recoil from the figure in shock.
Multi-colored ink on paper. Prominent reds, yellows and blues. Six figures, three smaller (clothed), three larger (nude or semi-nude). Scene of worship.
Autumn Wind, from the Furyu rokkasen (The Six Elegant Poets) series
Artist
Suzuki Harunobu
Physical Description
A young woman hurries across a bridge, using one of her sleeves to shield her head from the strong wind. Plants around her bend in the force of the wind, and tree branches lose their leaves. An Uta poem by Bunya-no-Yasuhide graces the top register.
Artist Life Dates
(1725? - 1770)
Century
18th century
Object Creation Date
ca. 1768
Accession Number
1948/1.156
Medium and Support
chûban (medium size) nishiki-e (full-color woodblock print) on paper
This black and white print depicts an animated and detailed scene of nude figures and mythical beasts on the surface of the sea.Two men, with seaweed hair and riding half horse/half fish creatures, strike out at each other. A man and a woman ride a beast with a scaly body and the head of a fierce dog. In the background, a man holding a trident stands with his back to the viewer. Action and motion are expressed with billowing drapery, flowing hair and moving waves. The wide mouthed expressions of the figures and animals suggest yelling and noise in this chaotic scene. Among the many details depicted by the artist is a plaque held by the woman that has his initials.
Artist Life Dates
ca. 1470-1536
Century
16th century
Object Creation Date
early 16th century
Accession Number
1996/2.1
Medium and Support
etching on iron on medium, slightly textured light beige laid paper
Images of a old fashioned space shuttle, a man hanging on to two arrows, a face, the American flag. Done in red ink with beige filler, except for the man and the arrows, who are filled in with white.
Assemblage of found objects: salvaged wood frame, four portrait photographs of African American females, nine thread samples, and one hand mirror hanging on a decorative brass hook to the viewer's right of the frame.
Vishnu stands with his legs apart holding his four attributes in his hands. Reading in clockwise direction from his right front hand he holds: his club, discus, conch and lotus, here a rather flat object cupped in his palm. His back two arms are extremely short. The figure is encircled with a decorated arch with a line of beads and triangular shaped openings around them. A stylized sun and moon are to either side of Vishnu’s head. He wears a variety of simple, lumpy jewelry at his feet are a horse to his right and a bull or cow to his left and between them are three rings lying flat on the base. At the front of the base are seven stylized horses, identifying this as a combination figure: Vishnu and the sun god Surya, whose chariot is pulled by seven horses.
Artist Unknown, African, Osei Bonsu, Asante (Akan) peoples Ghana
Physical Description
A poised, naturalistic male figure sits on a stool, holding an egg in his right hand, his left hand resting on his left knee. The head is round, almost egg-shaped, with a high, sloping forehead rising from pronounced eyebrows. The eyes are almond-shped, the nost long and slender, the mouth a small straight line. The neck is long and ringed. Its surface is smooth, and carefully finished, golden brown in color, though worn or mottled in places.
A watercolor painting of a sunset scene in a woodland river area. In the foreground the river is tinted orange from the sunset reflection. A man sits in his boat facing the bends of the river that lead to the homes located further back. The winding riverbanks are lined with tall trees. The sky above is cloudy, but through the holes a light-blue sky is visible.
This black and white engraving features a portrait of a young woman in a roundel in the upper portion of the print. The young woman’s face is shown in three-quarter profile. Her hair is pulled back and her head is partially covered in a hooded cloak that appears to be bordered with fur. In the lower register of the print there is an illustration framed by a decorative wreath. The illustration features a bedroom scene populated by several figures. A figure lies on the bed on the right of this image while several figures attend to the bed-ridden figure, including a woman whose costume mirrors that of the woman in the roundel above this image. In this image she is accompanied by a child whom she embraces as she gestures toward the figure on the bed.
Smile For Your Lover Comes (Stone Ridge, New York, 2000)
Artist
John Dugdale
Physical Description
Photograph with deep blue tint of a nude man, with his back to viewer, sitting on a porch railing, looking out into into the night. On the viewer's right, along the front of the porch, there is abundant vegetation.
7-sided frame made of reclaimed wood moulding and slats nailed together and backed with strips of green felt, possibly from a pool table. Gold wire traces the wood frame, and is accented with a fuzz ball or googly eye at each corner. A toy car is placed on the gold wire “track” at bottom center; car racing flag stickers attached to the frame in a couple places. Three pieces of thread are strung horizontally across the frame, a “spider web” attached to top two lines with puffy paint. A wood (?) cutout of a smiling joker mouth hung from web by wire.
Artist Life Dates
(1951 - )
Century
20th century
Object Creation Date
1996
Accession Number
2008/2.235
Medium and Support
mixed media consruction, paint, wood, wire, toy car
A powerfully muscled nude man sits astride a fearsome sea creature. He grasps an oar in his left hand and the beast's reins in his right, while a cloth billows out behind him. A variety of humanoid creatures frolic in the seascape in the background.
Highly abstracted figure with oval body, short straight legs, and a large mushroom shaped head with a crude, wide-mouthed face. Between the body and head are two horizontal bars that are slightly longer than the width of the head. The sculpture is quite flat, and the bronze has a molten look.
A color woodblock print of a young woman hanging a paper with poem on a cherry tree. The woman is in a kimono with intricate design of cherry blossom, hemp leaves, birds and swirls, pine trees and diamond patterns. She also wears broad obi (sash) in checkerboard patterns, which is bow- tied on her back. There is also a white sash underneath the obi, which supports her long kimono. Her hair is tied on the back and adorn with tortoise-shell comb and pin. The cherry tree is in full bloom; there is a curtain with a family crest behind the woman and the tree; a certain kind of platform with swirling vine pattern is peaking below the curtain. The overall color scheme is in yellow, orange, black and white (the color of the paper). There are artist’s signature and two seals on the right bottom corner, and smaller seal on the left bottom corner.
The Lord's Prayer, sheet 9 - But Deliver Us from Evil (Das Vaterunser - Sondern erlöse uns von dem Übel)
Artist
Max Pechstein
Physical Description
At viewer's left, two reclining figures lie side-by-side in a bed, covered by a sheet up to their chins. At the foot of the bed at the viewer's right, a man sits with his eyes closed and his hands on his head. To the viewer's left, in the foreground , a woman sits, crying, wiping her eyes with the back of her left hand.
A lone man walks along a mountain path on the bottom left, hunched over perhaps under a load he carries. He seems to be approaching a hut along the water's edge partially blocked from the viewer by tall trees. The path continues to wind up the mountain, and spoked circular designs indicate what may be a series of bridges. Lines of calligraphy and seals are in the upper left corner.
An older woman is shown seated against an undifferentiated background. She has a dark hat on and is sitting facing towards the right, although her head, tilted on an angle, faces the viewer. Most of the figure is drawn with cursory attention, but the face is very delicately but fully modeled.
This 6-fold screen is a depiction of the Battle of Genji and Heike. In samurai armor, the Heike forces approach by ship from the left, while Genji forces rush to the shore on horseback and on foot—drawing the viewer’s attention to the center of the screens, where their confrontation will finally take place. The Heike forces can be identified by the red banners on their ships, while the Genji clan carries white banners.
A scholar sits in a relaxed posture at his desk looking at cut plum blossoms in a white vase; before him is an empty sheet of paper and ink stone, and by his side an attendant is boiling water for tea. A crane tucks her head and leg to keep herself warm in the cold winter air. The scholar seems to be contemplating a subject to be drawn or written, perhaps related to the flowers.
Artist Life Dates
(1774 - 1829)
Century
19th century
Object Creation Date
1820s
Accession Number
1981/2.133
Medium and Support
fan mounted as an album leaf, ink and color on paper
Two girls, depicted in bold geometric shapes and block colors, reading a book together. The figure seated at viewer's right, slightly taller, is green and wearing yellow. The figure at viewer's left has a face of blue and white and is clothed in red resting her clasped hands upon an open book.
Lady meeting her lover from the Rasamanjari of Bhanudatta series
Artist
India, Rajasthan, Mewar School
Physical Description
Brightly colored painting with three primary registers. The uppermost and smallest register contains a poem. The lower two are larger and similar in size. The bottommost depicts stairs, architectural structures, snakes, and flowering plants. Above, the middle register frames a seated man under a canopy-like architectural form, who reaches out to grasp the wrist of a woman. Behind her is a flowering tree, and and the far right, and open door.
Gilt bronze standing Buddha on lotus pedestal. He is clothed in monastic robes with cascading U-shaped folds, similar to the gentle folds of his neck. His hands ake the form of two mudras: the abhaya (“have no fear”) mudra with the right hand, and varada (“wishes are granted”) mudra with the left.
It is well proportioned overall and represent Buddha in a standing position; a position quite popular in Unified Shilla Buddhist sculpture. The Ushinisha on the top of Buddha's head is tall, voluminous and black. The face is plump and facial features, including the eyes, nose and the mouth, are all rather small. The earlobes hang are hanging and the three curved lines on the neck are highly distinct.
