Losing our bonsai heritage

[Cedric]

I recently saw a thread (viewtopic.php?f=25&t=25689&p=256394&hilit=Chee#p256394) about the restyling of Barrington Chee's 1970's pine. Some people thought the restyling was brilliant, others thought it was just like so many other pines.

Red Pine - Before.jpg

Red Pine - After.jpg

My reaction was that we have lost an important part of our bonsai history. This was a tree created by one of Australia's historically significant artists, now changed beyond recognition.

Sure it wasn't pretty to our modern, internet educated eyes. That's the point. It showed us how Australian bonsai looked 50 years ago.

The restyling was like straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It can be done but it isn't, as the tower would no longer leaning. Straightening it would remove its defining characteristic - its lean. Ditto for the tree. It has lost its defining characteristics. Only a trunk line remains. It now looks like thousands of other pines.

Vale Barrington's art.

[Keels]

I think it's a bit unrealistic someone would expect a tree to remain in its current state forever. You have to keep improving the trees as they are living entities. I think the work on the tree was fantastic. It will always have its history but now it has a bright future.

I don't see anything bonsai culture being lost here...

[kcpoole]

I see Bonsai Culture being continued and advanced
Trees evolve as they age and a restyle is just that. take the tree to the next stage on its journey

Ken

[TimS]

While I detest the green helmet look, from a horticultural point of view it would be beneficial for health of the tree to have had that good clean out at any rate. All the extra light and space now will be appreciated by the tree.

Do I like the restyle? Not particularly from my own aesthetic appreciation standpoint....but I’m sure glad it’s being taken care of properly.

Have we lost heritage? Not in my opinion; the human trait of wanting things to be the same forever doesn’t really translate into anything outside of our own life bubbles.

Let’s say this tree wasn’t restyled, and instead was left where it was. What if some accident occurred and the top was snapped off? A restyle would certainly be required. Or let’s say it was left totally alone and it became overgrown and pets moved in and damaged the tree? Again, potentially it would need style altering work.

We have a timeline for the tree. Where it began> where it is now and how it got there. I think that’s s wonderful thing to be able to look at and appreciate. I cannot deny that the quality of the tree is dramatically improved, after that all it comes down to is aesthetics and we’ll never get everyone to agree on that. One day the green helmet will be old fashioned and a new style will have taken over, and we might get to see this tree altered again. It will be but the next chapters of this tree’s story.

[LLK]

That is work done at the National Bonsai and Penjing Collection of Australia, and in the second photo one sees Leigh Taafe, Curator, and Sam Thompson. Assistant Curator. Behind Sam is ?? Ryan Neil?
This kind of restyling happens now and again at the National collection, and it is unavoidable. I agree that the Japanese red pine is now a model of perfect contemporary styling, but so what? In another 15 years or so it will be considered outmoded and changed again. That is the way it goes with bonsai and one can only admire the pioneers who worked on them, not request that their work be repeated in perpetuity.

Lisa

[Jarad]

To my eyes, it looks like it has always been one of the green helmet designs so they haven't ruined it at all. Just brought it back to its former glory. Do we have a photo of it 30 years ago?

I'm not the biggest fan of the green helmet design, but it is still a nice tree.

[MJL]

More often than not, there is some weird (in my mind) irregularity about trees in their natural setting. (Perhaps, what I call 'weird' ... nature would call 'normal'.)

I have been taking much more notice of pines recently. I have limited local reference - driving down to the Mornington Peninsula and some local parks around where I live. Fascinating beasts. Just yesterday I nearly drove off the road as I was staring at a tree that surprised me with it's rounded top. (Thanks to the driver who tooted me as I drifted dreamily into his lane on the freeway!)

Anyway... often... one or two really strong branches forcefully push away from the main trunk at unexpected angles; angles that seem counter-intuitive to the rest of the tree.

Take the first photo here (posted by Cedric) ... that branch to the right ... there's something starting to take shape there ... something weird, something natural ... it's starting to break away and be a pine that I see ... and then it's not. The re-styling is skillful and safe in that it seems to conform ; of course, in restyling, the tree is different and it is 'us' that then individually appreciates it or not. My tastes currently lean to something more 'out there' but A) I wouldn't have the skills to try and B) it's may shock even further!!

More often than not I find myself thinking .. how on earth would I make that a bonsai ... how could a re-create nature's 'normal' - how can I include those random elements and yet create a look which I can appreciate when it's in a pot. Maybe I'll never learn that ... maybe I will. I think this is a hobby I will never master. I think this is one of the more challenging and enjoyable pastimes.

Hats off to those from the past who got us to the present...the fact that Barrington Chee and his tree is referenced here means history is intact - but the tree lives on in the hands of others. Who knows where the future leads. At the individual level, I hope to push a little left of centre and enjoy a little weird - chaotic harmony as I put it.

Thanks for reading another rambling reflection on this early Sunday morn.

[Cedric]

Gee, have you guys ever been to a museum or art gallery or historical garden? All of these places preserve and celebrate old things. Why are bonsai treated differently, at least here?

To style Barrington's tree sympathetically with its original design just needs talent, restraint and respect. Talent to do a style other than your standard style (say green helmet), restraint to stay within the boundaries of the existing design, and respect for the work of another artist.

Artist is the key word. We all call ourselves artists, yet here we are blithely cheering the destruction of an artist's work because bonsai are growing things.
No other art tolerates this attitude. I don't see people repainting van Gogh's because there's a new style this week, or the gallery curator prefers Dali. Nor do I see John Naka's Goshin setting getting the green helmet treatment at the US national collection in Washington DC.

The restyling went well beyond tidying it up and keeping the tree healthy. There was no horticultural reason to do a green helmet. The trimming, thinning, branch placement work could have kept the tall trunk and triangular top. Mauro and his patrons simply chose not to.

I thought the National Collection was about showing our best trees. I interpret that as the donated trees being kept with a strong emphasis on retaining their original style, so we can see the sort of trees that Koreshoff, Chee and Micaleff made. The loan trees can show us the modern tree candy, green helmets and so on.

I'd like to be able to see the old trees as they were in the flesh. The Collection should do this. If they keep being restyled like Barrington's I'll have to rely on grainy black and white pictures to know how Australian bonsai has evolved.

[TimS]

I remember watching a video from a handful of years back when there was a very famous old Japanese White Pine i think it was shown at the Taikan-ten. It is in fact a very historically significant tree in the bonsai history of Japan, however it was not recognisable to many people because the front had been changed.

If the style of a tree of such significance as that is not above being altered, then this pine is absolutely fair game. In all honesty, i don't see it being that special beforehand quite frankly. It was already a green helmet tuft heading towards being overgrown, now it is a idealized green helmet.

The comparison to an artwork that is never altered is erroneous; since without our own interference to keep the tree looking a certain way, it would naturally change on it's own.

Have you been to a garden in Japan? Teams and teams of workers are working on the grounds. Why are the pines at Kinkaku-ji 30ft tall, when by your logic they should have maintained at exactly the size and shape they were when they were planted however many decades ago?

Like it or not, every living thing grows and changes and you either accept that or stop bonsai because one day all of our trees will leave our hands one way or another, and whomever takes them over will likely see them differently to us and change them.

[bunce]

And in the second photo one sees Leigh Taafe, Curator, and Sam Thompson. Assistant Curator. Behind Sam is ?? Ryan Neil?


Lisa

...Mauro Stemberger


------

Trees get make overs all the time, even historical trees in Japan get remakes and remodels. The tree wasn't that impressive and was elevated as a result of the restyling. This styling will need to settle in before this tree will look any good. Adjustments need to be made to the apex, it should be remodelled again.

Australia has alot of catching up to do in the bonsai world compared to the US and EUR and of course JP. re styling of these trees are due.

bunce.

[Mbunro]

Australia has alot of catching up to do in the bonsai world compared to the US and EUR and of course JP. re styling of these trees are due

so much so that we lose our collective shari when they show us how its done..

[Cedric]

If the trees can be restyled endlessly, to continue the green helmet image, we could have green berets for Bastille Day, or green fascinators for the spring carnival . . .

But I digress, if the trees can be endlessly restyled, what's the point of putting the original owner on the tree's label? It really means nothing other than naming the first person to grow the tree. Certainly the look of the tree will have no connection to the first grower.

[Keels]

If the trees can be restyled endlessly, to continue the green helmet image, we could have green berets for Bastille Day, or green fascinators for the spring carnival . . .

But I digress, if the trees can be endlessly restyled, what's the point of putting the original owner on the tree's label? It really means nothing other than naming the first person to grow the tree. Certainly the look of the tree will have no connection to the first grower.

I checked out your last few posts and I see you've posted 4 times since May this year. Actually 4 in total ever. They all relate to the restyle of bonsai from the national collection. I think you should go and discuss this with the guys at the national collection. They are very approachable. I don't see this forum offering any type of solutions and discussing it with them directly might help alleviate any concerns.

[matlea]

Keeping track of who has grown, styled and worked the tree and who has also had a hand in any future styling ads to the story behind the tree, it's history and over time will also reflect changes in aesthetics......not to difficult to see the relevance...

[GavinG]

It is vital to recognise the contribution of the original grower, as part of the tree's provenance, however that tree was not really presentable when it arrived. I am no fan of the "green helmet " disease either, but the tree is now fit for display, and will carry Mr Chee's name as part of its history. There's a big difference between improving a tree (working with the basic framework that the original artist established) and wholesale radical redesign, where the original concept is not respected. I know the tree, and to me, that didn't happen here.

Cedric, there seems to be some personal dimension to your concern. Please take it up with the curators, and hopefully resolve it.

Gavin