Victorian Plum Blossom Concubine
Nina Kuo. Victorian Plum Blossom Concubine, 1999.
Description:
Reminiscent of John Thompson's 19th-century photo of an elegant concubine with bound feet, this piece is a tribute to these figures as a classical, symmetrically-designed composition in an oval frame. The figures are both traditional and modernized. Kuo has used this theme of middle-class Chinese women subjects with "lotus bound feet" in past works, notably by portraying her grandmother, who had bound feet and who lived through the Chinese Cultural Revolution. See photograph in Our Grandmothers, published by Tabori, Stewart & Chang.
Medium:
Painting
Tags:
portrait, 19th century, fantasy, feminine, ritual, Chinese, tradition, bound feet, Asian, blossoms, tradition, multi-ethnic, fantasy, mistress
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