Art Institute of Chicago

Fish and Plants

Ikeda Keisen

Date

1908

Medium

Single six-panel screen; ink, color, and gold on silk

Culture

Japan

Department

Arts of Asia

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

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 seen, for instance, in the whimsical depictions of many of the fish.

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