Paul Binnie Jinen the Lay Monk

Paul Binnie “Jinen the Lay Monk” artwork
Artist
Paul Binnie
Title
Jinen the Lay Monk
Japanese title
Jinen Koji 自然居士
Series title
Date
Medium
Oil painting on canvas
Paper dimensions (h × w)
Image dimensions (h × w)
Subjects
Noh plays ( )
Remarks
"A child actor in the Noh play Jinen Koji, The Honest Acolyte, oil on canvas, 1998/1999. Another of the Noh paintings made in my last year in Japan, this almost-lifesize portrait shows a child actor playing a nobleman, while we can only see the left foot of the acolyte of the title of the play. This is an accepted convention of the Noh stage: children are used where the social status of the character in fuedal society would otherwise require them to become the main character in the drama. By casting a child as a lord, the nobleman can be understood as dramatically secondary to the lower-ranking monk." Binnie, September 24, 2021
References
Catalogue number
(L487)
Supplementary images