[Mark Crean Participant Posts: 27]

Wabi Sabi

on: March 30, 2021 at 3:21 pm

Stardate: possibly as early as 1680-1700 but not sure. At any rate, still going strong and still in use today. In 1728, the poet Alexander Pope said he thought these gardens were “the prettiest place for waterfalls, jets, ponds, inclosed with beautiful scenes of green and hanging wood, that I ever saw.”

I am trying to capture the mixture of slight dilapidation, rustic simplicity and careful, continued (and cherished) use that seems to embody at least one aspect of wabi sabi. Chris’s original post does have a helpful definition. There is also the question of light, in photography. Has anyone read In Praise of Shadows by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki? That is another clue to this sensibility, I think.

[Mark Crean]

Re: An Old Garden Corner

Reply #1 on: March 31, 2021 at 5:57 am

I’d guess that another aspect of looking for wabi sabi is the patina arising from the slow decay of nearly 300 years of weathering and cleaning. This is from a lead statue of Apollo erected in 1739 in the same garden.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by Mark Crean.

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