Any subject can be a theme for Zenga, and here Seisetsu has brushed a lovely geisha in the Zen style. Seisetsu reminds us not to be completely captivated by the other form, no matter how beautiful. Look inside to find a person's "Original Face before their parents were born."
Seki Seisetsu was born in Hyogo Prefecture, and was adopted at birth by a Zen priest. He spent his entire life as a monk, and served as abbot of the major Zen temple Tenryu-ji in Kyoto for twenty years. Unlike most Zen masters who concentrate on calligraphy, Seisetsu loved to paint, and he brushed hundreds of paintings on all manner of themes, sometimes using light colors, which is also unusual in Zen art. Portraits of Daruma and Kannon were his signature themes. Details of Seisetsu's life and art can be found in The Art of Twentieth-Century Zen (Shambhala, 2000).
