Black Robe, White Mist

The Art of the Japanese Buddhist Nun Rengetsu

Melanie Eastburn et al.

• $40.00 paperback (9780642541390) Add to Cart
• hardcover not available

• Published: 2008
• Subject Listing: Asian Art, Religion
• Bibliographic information: 148 pp., 147 color illus., bibliog., 9 x 9 in.
• Territorial rights: North American rights only
• Distributed for: National Gallery of Australia
• Contents

Rengetsu (1791-1875), whose name translates as Lotus Moon, was a Japanese Buddhist nun whose tragic life inspired extraordinary creativity. One of a very few successful female artists in nineteenth-century Japan, Rengetsu was primarily a poet and calligrapher, but also excelled in pottery and scroll painting. Her idiosyncratic personal aesthetic attracted an enormous following in her own lifetime and was imitated by many of her admirers.

Black Robe, White Mist presents contemplative works on paper and clay inscribed with Rengetsu's elegant poetry and understated calligraphy, reflecting the beauty of the imperfect and unconventional. A number of distinguished contributors share their knowledge of and enthusiasm for Rengetsu's poetry and art.

Melanie Eastburn is assistant curator of Asian art at the National Gallery of Australia. Other contributors include Chiaki Ajioka, Lucie Folan, Patricia J. Graham, Robyn Maxwell, Meher McArthur, Sandra Sheckter, John Stevens, and Saymi Takahashi.

Director's foreword
Sponsor's foreword

The life of Lotus Moon / Melanie Eastburn

Otagaki Rengetsu and Buddhism: the Pure Land of Beauty / John Stevens

Otagoki Rengetsu the poet / John Stevens

Otagaki Rengetsu and the Japanese tea ceremony / Patricia J. Graham

The sake wares of Otagaki Rengetsu / Meher McArthur

The ceramic art of Otagaki Rengetsu: where pottery meets poetry / Sandra Sheckter

Otagaki Rengetsu's gassaku: friendship and the spirit of collaboration / Sayumi Takahashi

Japanese poetry: reading translations / Chiaki Ajioka

List of illustrations
Contributors
Bibliography