Michael Thompson

"Dark Knight, " Mixed-Media Kite, 2008

2008

Evolving from the Korean tradition of tomb mural painting came the Buddhist practice of “taenghwa,” or hanging-painting, a form of religious painting that included hanging scrolls, framed paintings and wall murals. Influenced by Chinese and Central Asian Buddhist art...

Drawn with a fine line and fresh, sketched quality, this folk hanging unites two scenes of lucky hoho lotus boys circumscribed in frames punctuated with fruits such as pomegranate, symbolic of prosperity and good fortune. On top, the two explore the natural wonders of the world...

In this series entitled "The People People," Tracy Crump uses washes of grey, white and aqua to both conceal and reveal sensitively drawn figures. Each figure stands alone as an indi...

Chinese New Year paintings (nian hua) are colorful folk paintings created to celebrate the annual Spring Festival. Drawn or printed by folk artists in regional studios, nian hua pain...

This poster from the 1930s draws from a well known Chinese opera scene. It melds the meticulous detail of traditional Chinese painting with the craft of color lithography. These advertisements, influenced by the Art Deco movement in the west, recall the economic boom of early 20th century Shanghai, an international center of business and trade. Layered with imagery of traditional Chinese life, the poster is nonetheless an advertisement for the modern cigarette industry, with several tobacco brands displayed in the top left corner, including Lan Ting, Hong Chun, and Jade Rabbit...

Chinese New Year paintings (nian hua) are colorful folk paintings created to celebrate the annual Spring Festival. Drawn or printed by folk artists in regional studios, nian hua paintings featured exaggerated characters with bright and contrasting colors. Put up around the home to beckon luck and happiness in the coming year, most paintings depicted mythical guardians, scenes from folk operas, or auspicious symbols of good luck. This New Year painting depicts a young woman holding a vase filled with peony blossoms. This combination of motifs is a visual idiom for "may you have peace and prosperity" (ping'an fu gui). The early 20th century painting is from the town of Yangliuqing, one of the leading producers of traditional New Year's paintings known for its combination of woodblock printing...

Chinese ink and acrylic on rice paper, stretched on canvas. Artist's stamp upper left. 71 x 38.25 in. 72.25 x 40.5 in. (framed) Custom framed in a solid maple, float-mounted Gatorf...

Wedding Procession is a colored raised line woodcut, done in 1924 by Bertha Boynton Lum (American, 1869 – 1954) . The image measures 13-7/8 x 10-1/8". Raised line impression and painted by the artist, while living in China. Image 13.25"H x 8.75"W Sheet 14.75"H x 10.75" (approx) Signed Lower center in pencil "Bertha Lum" New acid free mat included. Bertha Lum was fascinated by the legends and mythology of the Orient and wrote extensively about them. These legends provided the subject matter for many of her works in woodcut. Bertha Boynton Lum was an American artist known for helping popularize the Japanese and Chinese woodblock print outside of Asia. In May 1869, Lum was born as Bertha Boynton Bull in Tipton, Iowa. Lum's father was Joseph W. Bull (1841–1923), a lawyer and her mother was Harriet Ann Boynton (1842–1925), a school teacher. Both of Lum's parents were amateur artists. Lum had a sister and two brothers, Clara, Carlton, and Emerson. Education and career: In 1890 she lived in Duluth and listed her occupation as artist. She enrolled in the design department of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1895. A few years later she studied stained glass with Anne Weston and attended the Frank Holme School of Illustration. From November 1901 to March 1902, she studied figure drawing at the Art Institute of Chicago and was influenced by the Japanese techniques of Arthur Wesley Dow in his book Composition, which was published in 1899. Lum married Burt F. Lum, a corporate lawyer from Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1903. They spent their seven-week honeymoon in Japan, where she searched for a print maker who could teach her the traditional ukiyo-e method. Toward the end of her stay in Japan, she found a shop that reproduced old prints. The shop sold her some woodcutting tools...

Unique work made from handprinting and printed collage on paper.

The painting and the preparatory drawing are offered together. Provenance Private collection, Germany, Trier, c. 1980- 2013 Saint John the Baptist Brown ink and wash over red chalk on oatmeal paper 31 x 20.5 cm Inscribed: „Ferrau Fenzonio da Faenza invt. esque … imp. da Fran. Villamena …“. bears the collector's mark of Henry Scipio Reitlinger (1882-1950; Lugt 2274a) on a tiny label glued to the verso On the reverse is a partial drawing of a Pieta, pricked for transfer. Provenance New York, Doyle, 14. October 2015, No. 6 The painting and the preparatory drawing resemble the composition of an engraving after Ferraù Fenzoni by Francesco Villamena. Drawing, engraving and painting are almost identical, except for minor differences. Even the measurements nearly correspond: painting (32 x 25,5 cm), drawing (30 x 20,5 cm), engraving (31,1 x 23,5 cm). Dr. Guiseppe Scavizzi confirmed the attribution of the present panting to Fenzoni and he dates it to c. 1590. The inscription on the drawing reads “Ferrau Fenzonio da Faenza invt. esque. . . imp. da Fran: Villamena . . .”. The engraving’s inscription also lists place and date “Ferra Fensionius inventor/F. Villamoena sculpsit Rome/Aspectu fruitur… antra puer/cum Privilegio… 1613”. Interestingly, the engraving is not mirrored as it is in most printing processes. Painting, drawing and engraving are not reversed but the same. It is remarkable to note that there are further paintings by Fenzoni which were engraved in the same order and not reverted. They also show strong parallels regarding the compositions and the measurements (see for example “Deposition of Christ” ). Ferraù Fenzoni was an Italian painter mainly active in Todi. He is also called Il Faenzone after his birthplace (Faenza). He apprenticed in Rome during the papacy of Gregory XIII and contributed to numerous fresco cycles under pope Sixtus V, such as the Loggia della Benedizioni in the Lateran Palace, the frescoes on the walls and vaults of the Scala Santa of the adjacent Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, and the decoration in the Sistine library. His expressive canvases straddle the styles of Mannerism and Baroque. In 1594, he moved to Todi. A “Last Judgement” by him is housed in the cathedral of Todi. He returned to Faenza in 1599, where he decorated chapels in the cathedral from 1612 to 1616. In 1622, he completed a “Deposition”, now in the local Pinacoteca. In 1640, Fenzoni was named “cavaliere dello speron d’oro” by Cardinal Colonna and, on 25th April 1634, he was nominated vicar and “castellano of Granarolo”. Fenzoni‘s style is characterized by a mixture of the Mannerism of the Northern Netherlands and the Italian Baroque. Saint John the Baptist, Old Master, 17th Century, By Fenzoni, Religious Scene, Rome Art...

Expressionist Figurative water color painting by Zhang Chunyang Series The Horse Whisper No.2-25 Dimension: 29 x 36 cm Material: Gouache, Watercolor on Paper Date: 2013 Artist B...

Expressionist Figurative water color painting by Zhang Chunyang Title: Luckiness Dimension: 29 x 36 cm Material: Gouache, Watercolor on Paper D...