Ikegami Shuho 1938 Summer Screen Painting of a Stream

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Ikegami Shuho 1938 Summer Screen Painting of a Stream

About the Item

Byobu or folding screen in two panels for summer, painted on a double layer of moiré silk in mineral pigments, with a scene of ayu or sweetfish swimming in a stream bordered by rocks and grasses. Signed on the lower left side of the left hand panel by the artist: Shuho, and sealed (Ikegami Shuho, the go or art name of Ikegami Kunisaburo, 1874 – 1944). With brown lacquered frames. Showa 13 or 1938. With the tomobako or original box, inscribed with the title: Soden or School of Sweetfish, and dated: Showa Tsuchi Noe Tora, Seika or Showa (Era) Year of the Tiger (1938) Midsummer, and signed: Shuho Jidai or Titled by Shuho, and sealed. Born in Nagano, Ikegami Shuho was the son of a Shijo School painter, Ikegami Shuka. After initial study with his father, Shuho moved to Tokyo in 1889 to become a pupil of the well-known painter Araki Kanpo and soon became one of Kanpo’s inner circle. He also studied the literati Nanga tradition. In 1894 Shuho won second prize with his submission to the 6th Japan Art Association Exhibit (Nihon Bijutsu Kyokai Ten), and at the same exhibition in 1906 he took another prize and was elevated to the status of a member of the Association. Along with other students of Kanpo he participated in the formation of the Dokugakai painting group and continued to support it until it disbanded in 1942. In 1907 Shuho won a second prize in the Tokyo Industrial Exhibition, and upon the establishment of the Bunten that year became a member of the traditionalist Doshikai group. His series of Bunten acceptances began the following year with the 2nd Bunten, and two years later his Bunten painting won a Third Place Prize. This was the first of many honors awarded Shuho at the Imperial Art Exhibitions. His submissions won Honorable Mentions in 1911, 1913, and 1914; in 1915 his painting won Second Place Prize. In the subsequent three years he achieved the extraordinary success of capturing three successive Tokusen or Highest Honors for his paintings. In 1915, following the death of his teacher Kanpo, Shuho established and led the Denshindo painting school. Reportedly he was a kind and gentle teacher who took great care with the guidance of his pupils. In 1919 he was given the status of suisen or nominated artist for his submission to the first Teiten, and in 1933 became a Teiten judge. His submissions to subsequent Shin-Bunten exhibitions were also given mukansa or non-vetted status, and he showed his works every year up to the 6th Shin-Bunten in 1943. In 1936 Shuho had his first solo exhibition in the prestigious department store venues of the Osaka Takashimaya and the Tokyo Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi. Thereafter he held similar solo shows almost every year. In 1937 and 1940 he composed frescos and decorative paintings for the Meguro Gajoen, and in 1939 he won Fourth Prize at the New York World’s Fair. He died in Tokyo in 1944. Shuho is considered a major artist in the landscape and bird-and-flower traditions. There have been three posthumous exhibits of his works and two published collections that focus upon his oeuvre. In addition the three pieces of his that are in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art, Shuho’s paintings are in the collection of the Shinshu Takato Art Museum, in Takato. For other paintings by Ikegami Shuho, c.f. number 30 in Kagedo’s catalogue Light Through Clouds, where this screen is also illustrated (number 49). The paintings are mounted as windows in each panel, and have a wonderful sense of depth created by the double layer of silk and the transparency of the design. The doubling of the patterned silk creates the water motif, and seems to shift constantly with movement as light plays through it or the viewer moves. Shuho painted on both pieces of silk to achieve greater shadowing and depth, and create a painting that delights from either side, front or back. The sense of cool water, mossy rocks and grasses was meant to visually refresh one in the heat of summer. 61 ½” high x 30 5/8” wide, each panel, (or 61 ¼” wide when unfolded flat).

Creator:
Ikegami Shuho (Artist)
Dimensions:
Height: 61.5 in (156.21 cm)Width: 61.25 in (155.58 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)
Place of Origin:
Japan
Period:
1930-1939
Date of Manufacture:
1938
Condition:
Seller Location:
Orcas, WA
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU9589742202