. Nine years in Nipon. Sketches of Japanese life and manners. ooking at things to enter fully into the enjoyment ofsuch simple and pretty designs. A student of ornament will find much which is worthyof his attention in designs even of such austere simplicity,and specially worthy of note is the direction of eachdominating line in relation to associated lines, in regardto which Ruskin has said much, the truthful force of whichevery Japanese designer would at once feel. A pleasing object which oftenmeets the eye in the countryis the egret or paddy bird, ofsnowy white plumage and grace-ful form. T
. Nine years in Nipon. Sketches of Japanese life and manners. ooking at things to enter fully into the enjoyment ofsuch simple and pretty designs. A student of ornament will find much which is worthyof his attention in designs even of such austere simplicity,and specially worthy of note is the direction of eachdominating line in relation to associated lines, in regardto which Ruskin has said much, the truthful force of whichevery Japanese designer would at once feel. A pleasing object which oftenmeets the eye in the countryis the egret or paddy bird, ofsnowy white plumage and grace-ful form. The wading birds gener-ally are favourite themes of theJapanese artist, and are found inevery form of ornamental work—on painted screens, fans, hangingscrolls, and bronzes. To the cranebelongs special sanctity, as it is awell-known symbol of long lifeand constancy. The flight of cranes is often* wonderfully well portrayed, and Ithink in a manner truer to naturethan some of the recent illustra-tions on the subject of the flightof birds. The curves in Mareys. m8£f Snowy Egret. 246 Nine Years in Nipon. book are often both wrong andunartlstic, while those ofPettigrew are stiffly correct but ungraceful. On a foldingscreen which I had there was a great flock of cranes inflight, descending and in every conceivable attitude. Theeye was closely carried down the canvas—shall I say?—till you felt the whirling flight make you almost giddy,—a genuine triumph of art. Here is a specimen which seems to me also to be trueto nature and full of grace and suggestive hints of the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidnineyearsinn, bookyear1888
