Lotus
Artist
Bernice Bing
(American, 1936 - 1998)
Date1986-1988
Culturewoman artist, queer artist
MaterialsWatercolor on paper
Dimensions18 × 24 in (45.7 cm × 61 cm)
Framed: 29 5/8 × 37 5/8 in (75.2 cm × 95.6 cm)
Framed: 29 5/8 × 37 5/8 in (75.2 cm × 95.6 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Estate of Bernice Bing
Object number2024.72
DepartmentContemporary Art
ClassificationsPainting
On View
Not on viewLate Work—Abstract Calligraphy
In 1984, Bing studied for six weeks at the China Art Academy in Hangzhou with renowned abstract calligrapher Wang Dongling. The titles of several of these paintings suggest that Bing was imagining the wisdom of the Lotus Sutra, one of the most influential Buddhist scriptures. Scholar Lin Ma has documented that Bing’s personal Buddhist practice was Nichiren—a Japanese form of Buddhism drawing its basic doctrine from the Lotus Sutra (妙法蓮華經).
