Flowers on a River: Bada Shanren’s Lotusland
UCLA professor of Art History Hui-shu Lee provides a deep and contextualized reading of the centerpiece of the exhibition—Bada Shanren’s "Flowers on a River" of 1697—a symphonic landscape of lotus and attached poetic ballad that unfurls in a scroll over 42 feet in length. Flowers on a River counts as one of the most important works by the secretive Bada, thoughtfully worked out over a period of months in his late years. Not only is the scroll’s primary subject of lotus and landscape among the most personal and enduring for Bada, the melodic verses written in his distinctive calligraphy prove equally significant. Cryptic and densely layered with allusions to past and present, Bada’s ballad reminiscences on a personal history defined by sorrow and alienation that simmers just under the painting’s visual appeal.
Mary Craig Auditorium
Free Students | SBMA Members
$5 Non-Members
Get your tickets at https://tickets.sbma.net/event-detail/flowers-river-2023-10-19/
Location
Santa Barbara Museum of Art
Date and Time for this Past Event
- Thursday, Oct 19, 2023 5:30pm - 6:30pm
