Ito Jakuchu's Masterpiece: "Birds, Animals, and Flowering Plants in Imaginary Scene"

Birds, Animals, and Flowering Plants in Imaginary Scene
Itō Jakuchū (1716-1800)
Edo Period, 18th century
Pair of six-panel folding screens, ink and colors on paper
Each: 168.7 x 374.4 cm
Courtesy of the Etsuko and Joe Price Collection These paintings are remarkable in thousands of ways – about 43,000 to be exact. That is roughly the number of squares that comprise each extraordinary masterpiece. Each figure is depicted using a different arrangement of squares and colors. Look at the robin. It is singing, walking along the bottom of the screen, composed of squares within squares and colors, arranged as never before, to produce the image of a robin that is alive and as alert as if it were captured by a camera. Usually such strict geometrical patterns would come across as stiff and lifeless. Yet, the goose is awake and alert, and the ones behind him are relaxed in sound sleep. This attention to true nature is a trait characteristic of Jakuchū.

These screens, over their two hundred plus years of existence, have had heavy wear. Jakuchū used materials that he was not accustomed to and the coarse mineral colors, especially the blue, have not proven to be very stable. “I believe that Jakuchū developed this style of painting to excuse the fact that these were imaginary animals he had never seen. He created an imaginary way to justify imaginary characters.” – Joe Price Itō Jakuchū: A Man with No Age was exhibited at the Bowers Museum from April 16 - June 12, 2011. All text and images under copyright. Please contact Collection Department for permission to use.