Sunday, November 4, 2018

a moving still-life

This is a painting of Wang Shimin by Zeng Jing, from 1616.  The famous painter here is thoughtful, posed with fine, mudra-like fingers distractedly holding a fly-whisk.  He is in fact in mourning, his wife has died.  Amazing to me is that his head moves.  Or my eyes move from side to side of his face looking for another ear and so there is my movement around his headZeng Jing suggests this slight movement in a still sitter by painting Wang with one ear.  Gosh!