A Man’s World

Media: Chinese ink and color on paper with traditional paper backing

Date: November 2016

Signed: Winter 2016 Lu Kesi [in Chinese]

Seals: Lu (upper right under signature), [x] (top center), Lu (lower left)

Inscription: “It’s great to be a man in a man’s world! Able to take a leak outdoors any time you please.” — Based on a sketch in the Mustard Seed Manual of Painting. Lu Kesi Nov ’16

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Description

“It’s great to be a man in a man’s world! Able to take a leak outdoors any time you please.”

A color painting by Lu Kesi  based on a black and white woodcut illustration in the Ming dynasty Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting. The original showed a man on a bridge fishing but, while learning technique from the manual, there’s no reason not to have a bit of fun too. Most Chinese would probably consider this inappropriate and inauspicious. And, although Chinese artists have always known about perspective, it’s not uncommon to find in their pictures that objects in the distance are larger than those close up.