Carl Morrow wrote:


Bonsai has transformed itself a number of times in the past two hundred
years and, as with all art, it will continue to change following fads
and fashions as it goes.

I don't have my references at hand but a look through the text section
of "Classic Bonsai of Japan" and and the history section of Korreshoff's
"Bonsai; its art science history and philosophy" will show how it has
developed over the past while.

If you have a series of Kokufen catalogs dating back several
years, the evolution of bonsai styles is clear.


Previously, pots were deeper, more "plant pot" like and ornate with
fancy coloured glazing while the more grotesque and fancy the tree the
more highly it was valued.

The 5 basic styles that we know and seem to love so much were only
really formalised 40 years ago by Yoshimura and Halford (The Japanese
Art of Miniature Trees and Landscapes). Nowadays artists are asserting
their own "Regional styles" as seen by Charles Ceronio in South Africa,
Nic Lenz in the US, Colin Lewis with some of his plantings and many
others around the planet.

The development in quality in the past twenty odd years has been
unprecedented, the "perfection" and extreme refinement seen in Japanese
trees with every needle (let alone branch) carefully positioned is
remarkable and very much in vogue at the moment. In years to come this
may well swing again to a more natural, wild look that allows the tree
to exhibit its own personality rather than looking like a textbook.

With any luck it will. Walter Pall's "Naturalistic Style"
is a step in that direction.


Thirty years ago deadwood was somewhat understated and little worked.
Kimura revolutionised this by creating the most fantastic deadwood
sculptural masterpieces using all sort of interesting power tools
previously unavailable to bonsai artists. This became a major fad

Yeah. Bonsai by Mixmaster.

snip


My first contribution to this list, and a bit of a rant at that(!), but
I do think that it is important that we appreciate where we have come
from and realise that the present will soon become history.

And a good one it was, Carl (if only because I agree with
you 100%) :-). Welcome to the IBC -- and keep on
contributing.

The Sport of Bonsai needs more "wolves" making trees to keep
the "sheep" from taking over. :-)

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - People,
when Columbus discovered this country, it was plum full of
nuts and berries. And I'm right here to tell you (that) the
berries are just about all gone. -- Uncle Dave Macon, musician

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