A practical and conceptual investigation into some aspects of East Asian and European traditions of flower painting, with two case studies

I give a historical account of the broad similarities and differences between the Korean and the European art traditions, particularly in respect to still life type practice, and more specifically sub-genres of flower painting, with an explanation in detail some of the philosophical and technical differences. There is a focus on the mutual influence between East Asian and European art in the period of ‘opening up’ towards the end of the 19th century, and on the recent period of an increasingly globalised art world. I present case studies of two artists, one from the European tradition and one from the Chinese, who attempted to fuse practices and ideas from both traditions in their work. There is a detailed account of how I attempted to embed cross cultural ideas, techniques and practices in my own work leading up to my MA exhibition, with a description, review and analysis of my exhibition work. I end with some conclusions and some directions for possible future work in this area, both practical and theoretical.