Walter_Pall

Classical: This is the style which is commonly associated with "good“ bonsai. These are trees which stick to the well known Japanese rules. They are usually slightly expressionistic and abstract. This means, the designer does not try to give the impression of a real tree but rather he has an inner felling for the ideal tree which he expresses. This always applies to conifers. Deciduous trees are often naturalistic and less expressionistic. A good classical artist is seen as one who uses (copies) the classical forms and conforms to the classical rules as far as possible.

Yuji Yoshimura has given an excellent historical overview of the development of the art of bonsai. According to him the development of classical bonsai started around 1600 with an early period which lasted until 1800. The middle classical period from 1800 to 1950 brought considerable refinement. The late classical period lasts from 1950 to today. In this period the refinement has reached new heights. Yoshimura sees most bonsai which were not styled or maintained in Japan outside of the classical group, either in the neo-classical or contemporary style.

There is the early-classical bonsai style, which can only be in the forms which were accepted before the 19th century: formal upright, informal upright, slanting, cascade, single trunk multitrunk, group, and on rock. In the 19th century the literati form was introduced in Japan. In the 20th century the formal broom form was developed.

Yoshimura sees most bonsai which were done in some sort of classical fashion outside of Japan as done in the neo-classical style. These are “bonsai that have been created based on the Japanese aesthetic sensibilities and the fundamentals of classical bonsai but which go beyond the framework of the classical bonsai of the past and were created through the subjectivity of the individual”.

The classical style is being repeated in the West since a couple of decades over and over again. Nothing was really added to it. The forms often became a cliché, stereotyped. The classical rules, which should really just be guidelines were far too often followed rigidly and even misunderstood. It became common practice to style deciduous trees as if they were conifers. This is so widespread by now that a naturalistic deciduous tree looks awkward to most western bonsai enthusiasts. They have gotten so used to the high level of abstraction of the classical trees that a natural looking bonsai seems strange. Many western bonsai enthusiasts are not aware that a great percentage of deciduous bonsai in Japan are not styled like a conifer, but rather in a naturalistic style. The “specimen” trees that are exported are, however usually styled in a stereotype way. This is because they are cheaper to develop that way and the western public expects them to look that way. Also conifers are often styled with conical apexes in the West, which sometimes is appropriate, but more often is a common misunderstanding of classical rules. Most good classical bonsai in Japan have rounded apexes.

Thus the term neo-classical is often used in a derogative way, meaning a bonsai which is styled as a cliché, which is a copy of a copy of a copy. And the quality is deteriorating with every copying. The bonsai somehow look all the same, as if they were cut out with a cookie-cutter – “cookie-cutter bonsai”.

There is a tendency in Japan recently to heavily underpot deciduous trees. Especially enormous trident maples are seen in incredibly shallow pots. A similar phenomenon is the exaggeration of a powerful nebari. There are some tridents with a nebari that has crossed the borderline to grotesque These are developments to the extreme. A shallower pot and a stronger nebari make the bonsai more powerful. So this is what is done. But there is an optimum and beyond that it is getting worse again. It is typical for an art style to go to extremes in a later period. The debate is open whether these grotesque tridents are neo-classical or just very late classical

Classic is a period in art history in which a zenith of artistic development was reached. A period of just repeating something what was developed in a classic period without adding new aspects is called classicism in art history or neo-classical. In a way one could go with Yoshimura and see what the majority of westerners by and large are practicing as bonsai art as neo-classical. This is a somehow derogative term, which, however expresses well the feeling of some artists who are becoming more and more allergic against classical appearance. Some even are starting to see classical bonsai as old-fashioned. This is normal during a time of change. This state of mind is necessary to start questioning traditions and to dare doing completely new things. It does not at all mean that classical bonsai are really outdated. Classical in the sense of proven value through time honored and developed traditions and a heritage to look up to will always mean this to the wise avant-garde artist.

One would have to note here that the Chinese trees don't usually fall into what is normally called classic category, as this is specifically a Japanese classic. Penjings have their own classical appearance, which now more and more reappears in contemporary western bonsai. The classical penjings are much more naturalistic, impressionistic and often are transcendental. It is interesting to observe that the modern, contemporary bonsai in China and other Asian countries seem to be created more according to the classical Japanese style. This is certainly true of bonsai in Taiwan, where e.g. one can see extraordinary ficus bonsai which look like an enormous pine – they are neo-classical.

Classic and classical are not the same! Webster's dictionary: classic: of the first or highest quality, class or rank: a classic piece of work. classical: of or pertaining to a style of literature and art characterized by conformity to established treatments, taste, or critical standards, and by attention to form with the general effect of regularity, simplicity, balance, proportion, and controlled emotion. So it is no contradiction to say that a truly outstanding bonsai can be a classic example of the contemporary style.