{"id":29111,"date":"2020-11-11T21:19:38","date_gmt":"2020-11-12T05:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=29111"},"modified":"2020-11-11T21:19:38","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T05:19:38","slug":"the-art-of-penjing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=29111","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Penjing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Posted on October 28, 2020 by\u00a0Usha Lee McFarling<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Comments (2)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\"A
\nA<\/em>\u00a0penjing\u00a0in the Verdant Microcosm, a new complex built to display a collection of the miniaturized plant landscapes in The Huntington\u2019s Chinese Garden. Photo by Jamie Pham.<\/em><\/div>\n

The venerable art of shaping trees and depicting landscapes in miniature\u2014penjing<\/em>\u2014has existed in China for centuries. Now visitors to The Huntington’s\u00a0Chinese Garden<\/a>, Liu Fang Yuan \u6d41\u82b3\u5712, can see more than two dozen examples of the art form, many created by one of The Huntington’s own experts. The\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0are on display in the Verdant Microcosm \u7fe0\u73b2\u74cf, a spacious courtyard within the newly expanded garden.<\/p>\n

Penjing<\/em>, considered living sculptures, have long been a part of classical Chinese gardens. Suzhou, the region of China that inspired Liu Fang Yuan, is particularly known for its school of\u00a0penjing<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Handcrafted
\nHandcrafted tiles illustrating the art of<\/em>\u00a0penjing\u00a0grace the walls of the new display. Photo by Jamie Pham.<\/em><\/div>\n

While the art form is little known in the United States,\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0has existed in China for roughly 2,000 years. Although the origins of\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0are uncertain, they were common in China long before the practice of bonsai took hold in Japan. Mural paintings in some Chinese tombs from the second and third centuries depict examples of\u00a0penjing<\/em>, notes Phillip E. Bloom, the June and Simon K.C. Li Curator of the Chinese Garden and Director of the Center for East Asian Garden Studies. \u201cThe art form is thought to have been introduced to Japan around the year 700, likely by monks, merchants, or diplomats,\u201d Bloom says.<\/p>\n

While related to bonsai,\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0are noticeably different. They are often more natural or \u201cwild\u201d looking, and they often depict landscapes rather than single trees.\u00a0Penjing<\/em>\u00a0\u76c6\u666f is Chinese for a landscape or scene (jing<\/em>) in a pot (pen<\/em>). Whereas bonsai displays typically focus on a tree or trees,\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0displays can include elements other than trees, including rocks, water, or figurines.\u00a0Penjing<\/em>\u00a0artists often say they are striving in their work to reveal the inner beauty, or essence, of nature.<\/p>\n

\"Penjing,
\nPenjing\u00a0, like this one created from an olive tree, often capture the dramatic shapes trees can take in the wild. Photo by Jamie Pham.<\/em><\/div>\n

The Huntington\u2019s collection of about 60\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0is due to the work and dedication of one man: Che Zhao Sheng.<\/p>\n

Che, 69, has worked as a gardener at The Huntington since 2006. His main job is to tend to plants in the Chinese Garden and prune them. About a decade before he emigrated to the United States from China, Che developed an interest in\u00a0penjing<\/em>. He was able to study with\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0artist Lu Xue Ming, who was trained in the Lingnan school, one of several regional Chinese schools of\u00a0penjing<\/em>. \u201cMy teacher was considered a top master of\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0in China,\u201d Che says.<\/p>\n

Many of the works from this school are considered to spring from and even exceed nature. Sometimes using wire to train branches in a certain shape, the Lingnan school more frequently relies on a \u201cclip and grow\u201d technique: Branches are clipped as they grow to encourage dramatic twists and turns. The development of a single\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0can take decades; Che has worked on some of the trees now on display at The Huntington for more than 30 years.<\/p>\n

\"Che
\nChe Zhao Sheng studied the art of<\/em>\u00a0penjing\u00a0in his native China and has created many of the<\/em>\u00a0penjing\u00a0now on display in The Huntington\u2019s Chinese Garden. Photo by Jamie Pham.<\/em><\/div>\n

When he moved to the United States in 1986, Che worked in various jobs but continued to develop his\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0skills by working on trees he kept in his backyard. He also volunteered at The Huntington. Since\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0was little known here, Che had to enter bonsai exhibitions in order to display his work. It was at one of these exhibitions that Che\u2019s work caught the eye of Jim Folsom, the Marge and Sherm Telleen\/Marion and Earle Jorgensen Director of the Botanical Gardens. Folsom hired Che to work in the Chinese Garden and begin detailed pruning of the garden\u2019s many pines so that they would reflect a Chinese, rather than a Japanese, style of pruning. Che made a strong impression right away.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019d grab a branch, like in the rodeo when you\u2019re steer wrestling, and I\u2019d hear branches cracking. I said, \u2018Are you sure you know what you\u2019re doing?\u2019\u201d recalls David McLaren, curator of the Asian gardens. \u201cI was cringing, seeing him do this to plants that cost thousands of dollars\u2014I\u2019d never seen anyone do that to a pine before, but he said, if you don\u2019t do that cracking, it takes twice as long to train them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Che
\nChe carefully tends to The Huntington\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0penjing\u00a0, many of which he spent decades creating. Photo by Jamie Pham.<\/em><\/div>\n

Che, working in the Chinese style, was striving to make the pines look more natural\u2014less like perfectly manicured triangles. \u201cWe try to make Chinese pines look like something you\u2019d find while walking in the mountains,\u201d he says. That natural look is something Che also strives for in his\u00a0penjing<\/em>. \u201cThe goal is to create the sense of a tree as though you took it out of nature,\u201d says Che.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a genius,\u201d Folsom says. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen someone who can take a beat-up old stem and turn it into a beautiful\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0like he can.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Cloudy Forest Court \u96f2\u6797\u9662, one of the architectural features within the Verdant Microcosm, Che\u2019s\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0are displayed as they sometimes are in China, against white walls; the shadows they cast are considered an important part of the display. \u201cThose shadows become like an ink painting that is moving on the wall,\u201d Bloom says, adding that many consider\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0a form of three-dimensional painting. In the Ming and Qing dynasties,\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0were specifically designed to replicate painters\u2019 compositional styles.<\/p>\n

\"Penjing<br
\nPenjing\u00a0are often displayed against white walls so their shadows can add additional viewing complexity. Photo by Jamie Pham.<\/em><\/div>\n

For many visitors, the\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0are more than just a beautiful display. They provide a deep connection to their homeland and memories of family. Mei-Lee Ney, who serves on The Huntington\u2019s Board of Governors, was born in China, and she still treasures memories of the four elaborate\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0that stood on carved stone pedestals in the courtyard of her family\u2019s mansion\u2014Wu Dau Tai\u2014built in Yichang for her great-grandfather, who had been the city\u2019s governor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose magical\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0were destroyed during the war with Japan and lived only in my mother\u2019s memory, and thus in mine. They will always be important to me because they remind me of my mother and my own roots,\u201d says Ney, a major donor to the Chinese Garden whose support made possible the construction of the Cloudy Forest Court for\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0display. \u201cI had always thought of\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0as a fantasy lost in the past. You can imagine how thrilled I was that the\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0garden was part of the Chinese Garden\u2019s expansion plans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
\nThe Cloudy Forest Court \u96f2\u6797\u9662, one of the architectural features within the Verdant Microcosm \u7fe0\u73b2\u74cf, the Chinese Garden\u2019s new<\/em>\u00a0penjing\u00a0complex.<\/em>\u00a0Penjing\u00a0are displayed amid distinctive scholar\u2019s rocks, making for dramatic viewing. Photo by Jamie Pham.<\/em><\/div>\n

The new\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0display will allow many Huntington visitors to appreciate the differences between bonsai and\u00a0penjing<\/em>, says Ted Matson, curator of the bonsai collections. \u201cBonsai are more subtle, internal, and contemplative,\u201d Matson says. \u201cPenjing<\/em>\u00a0can be more extreme. They can replicate exaggerated things you might see in nature\u2014like corkscrew twists, weird angles, and folds in branches\u2014that can be pretty magical.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matson says the current display focuses on the Lingnan school because of Che\u2019s training but that he hopes to add\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0from other schools to The Huntington and bring in the masters of those schools to demonstrate their techniques.<\/p>\n

\"This
\nThis<\/em>\u00a0penjing\u00a0, created from a Juniper tree, includes graceful curves and turns of branches resulting from years of tending. Photo by Jamie Pham.<\/em><\/div>\n

Other countries, such as Vietnam and Korea, have their own versions of the art form. \u201cMany East Asian cultural traditions have their own take on miniaturized plants. It\u2019s interesting to look at the stylistic differences,\u201d says Bloom, noting that \u201cmany of these traditions have become amalgamated in the United States.\u201d And even though bonsai originated from\u00a0penjing<\/em>, bonsai is likely to have influenced modern\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0once the tradition reemerged in China after the Cultural Revolution, notes Michelle Bailey, the curatorial assistant in the Center for East Asian Garden Studies.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for visitors to The Huntington, the\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0tradition here is strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been part of my grand plan all along,\u201d Che says with a smile. \u201cWhen I was learning in China, my teacher told me if I could show\u00a0penjing<\/em>\u00a0to people in the United States, he would be very proud. We want people to know that, just as Japan has a tradition of bonsai, China has a tradition of\u00a0penjing<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Usha Lee McFarling is senior writer and editor in the Office of Communications and Marketing at The Huntington<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Posted on October 28, 2020 by\u00a0Usha...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,6,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts","category-ca-local","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29111"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29112,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29111\/revisions\/29112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}