Song of Solomon: The Art and the Story
The picture that I have chosen for this project is known as Song of Solomon by He Qi. This artwork is a painting and holds many direct references to the biblical Old Testament book Song of Solomon. When reading through Song of Solomon as each chapter and verse progresses different images become apparent and match up with the images presented in this art. In chapter 1 versus 5-6 it tells of a dark woman who is black and beautiful because the sun has gazed on her. The woman does have the complexion of a woman who has been darkened by the sun. Although the woman pictured is not as dark as the man she still has color of the sun in her complexion. The woman may also be represented by the image of a Chinese woman in her complexion. He Qi also presents other women of the bible in his art with this complexion. But in comparison to the complexion of a Chinese woman which is often very fair the complexion may be considered to be dark.
In chapter 1 verse 6 it mentions a vineyard and this may represent an actual vineyard or just female sexuality. The artwork seems to represent this part as a depiction of a Chinese vineyard. When searching for a visual representation of a Chinese vineyard I found a beautiful picture of a very grassy land with a mountain or hill full of trees and a building that may be the housing of the wine. The vineyard and wine are also a part of the Song of Solomon in that wine mentioned as a sensual thing in terms of wine being lovemaking. In the artwork it is easy to see the representation of the Chinese vineyard and the building on the right which may be the housing of the wine. In chapter 1 verse 8 it goes on to speak about the shepherd's tents and to pasture your kids beside the shepard's tents. This is interpreted to be an image of grazing by the tents which is also an image of lovemaking and is represented in the bottom left corner of the artwork. It is interesting that the jewels mentioned in chapter 1 verse 10 are not displayed on the woman as it may be imagined that they would be.
Then the Song Solomon moves on to be represented by a phrase that appears various times in the book but is first represented in chapter 2 verse 6. This is the phrase that says that “O that his left hand were under my head, and that his right hand embraced me!”, it is clear to see in the artwork that the right hand of the man is embracing the woman but it is not clear whether the left is under the head maybe under the hair. The next representation is in chapter 2 verse 8-9. In these verses it talks of the beloved (man) leaping upon the mountains like a gazelle. I think that this image is very clear in the artwork in the left hand corner of the work. The golden gazelle and the mountains in the distance the gazelle leaps over. This could even be viewed as being sectioned off in the art to be behind the man maybe even as part of the man. Next in chapter 2 verse 12 it speaks of a turtle dove, the bird beside the woman is the representation of the turtledove which is a part of the woman in that the woman is inaccessible. And also in this verse it speaks of the flowers appearing on earth and the artist may have put this representation in the woman's hair because some Chinese women do wear flowers in their hair. In chapter 2 verse 13 it speaks about the fig tree which is abstractly represented in the bottom right corner of the artwork. Below the woman the fig tree has blue bulbs that represent the ripen figs which is also another representation of sexuality that sexuality is ripened or ready.
A long stretch but maybe a representation in this artwork also comes from chapter 2 verse 17, the moon to the right in the artwork may represent the verse in that the artwork creates a shadow with the moon. The biblical verse making images that until the shadows flee beloved must remain as a gazelle on the mountains. These images appear together by the man in the artwork. Next in chapter 3 verses 11 it speaks about the crown Solomon received from his mother and upon the head of the man is a crown. The crown may be of leaves because of a naturalistic image that the artist seems to be trying to create with both Solomon and his love. Chapter 4 really gets into the idea of the woman's beauty specifically, in verses 1-8. It speaks about the eyes and I believe that the depiction of the eyes on the man and the woman are apparently of an Asian/ Chinese origin in their shaping. The verse then speaks about the hair and a reference to the length of the hair and how it flows down the back and is very beautiful. Chinese woman also traditionally have black hair which is represented in this art. The lips and cheeks are compared in a way that the lips are crimson and the cheeks are pomegranate which means they are rosy. The neck is compared to the tower of David praised for being long. The artist is making all of these specific character traits to the woman and representing them in a Chinese woman's beauty at the same time.
