Grapevine

This is Matsumura Goshun's "Grapevine" from after 1790 as a hanging scroll (ink on silk), a weightless meditation on abundance. Grapes historically signified fertility, harvest, and longevity; they were also associated with autumn poetry; it shows the transition Goshun made from the literary-minded school toward the kyo style: -- The overwhelming impression this painting gave me is that of peace: -no vines, no pickers, no visual-clutter- just hanging out there in nothingness-as if an artist tried to isolate just fertility from all earthly cacophony-all that black leaves and small clusters on this painting with so much negative-space make one think-deeply, perhaps that it would have more profound meaning just in those shapes. - It is for me one of patience that there is still good things to enjoy when time goes. The Met states that grapes commonly represented fertility, harvest, and long life; they also symbolized the fall in poetry; it positions the scroll in Goshun's kyo period of artistic development, after his shift from literati painter toward the Kyo style. My mind perceives in the visual presentation that of a serene, weightless contemplation of profusion: without vineyard, vineyard laborer, or unnecessary ornamentation, this vine hangs in the airy nothingness as though Goshun intended the very abstract of fruitfulness to be disconnected from earthly hustle; the dark and faded leaves alongside the diminutive dangling bunches make this painted subject a deeply thoughtful work; it says that ultimate meaningfulness may in fact nestle in simplicity alone. I am seeing in this work something of that which suggests perseverance. Fruit does not progress hurriedly; it does not do seasons hurry forward in such ways either; and as the present grapevine maybe wisdom itself is such; it will be anchored yet will need care to develop-and it would offer without asking too many things out.