A Rose a Day No.47

Still-life paintings of roses are a staple of Western art, although they are very rare in East Asian art, at least before the forces of Westernization influenced taste, and made the rose a familiar icon of beauty. But the flatness and all-overness of the composition of this painting stakes a somewhat ‘Oriental’ note.

Two important wild roses that are native to Korea are Rosa multiflora and Rosa rugosa.

Nowadays in Korea, domesticated roses are still less prominent in gardens and parks than in the West, but cut-roses are a very common gift. Korea now has its own home-made hybrid roses, and by coincidence, the centre of the rose-farming business is near where I live in Paju county. There is also a lively Korea Rose Society.

This is an oil painting by a Korean, Lee Kyung Soon. It was made in 2004 and is called ‘Roses in the Garden’. It’s nice to think that her roses, although almost certainly hybrids bred in the West to suit Western taste, actually have Chinese parents, and that is why the flowers have the form they do, repeat blossom, and some are yellow.

 Painting courtesy of Lee Kyung Soon and Cho Kheejoo.