Fish and Plants
Ikeda Keisen
1908
Medium
Single six-panel screen; ink, color, and gold on silk
Dimensions
137 × 287 cm (53 15/16 × 113 in.)
Classification
screen
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
191599
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Creating these screens was a deeply personal exercise for Ikeda Keisen, who modeled this work on sketches made by his father. He elevated those small-scale images into the subjects of an expansive screen—the most formal kind of finished painting—with a dramatic gold-dust background. The six panels collectively represent an abundant display of more 30 kinds of fish and more than 80 varieties of plant life. These elements are painted with meticulous detail but also tempered with a sense of humor s...