Pair of folding screens. Japan, mid-20th century

Pair of folding screens. Japan, mid-20th century.
Restored.
Measurements: 170.5 x 369 cm (each).

Although made in the 20th century, the folding screens consciously draw on iconographic models and compositional techniques from classical Japanese painting, particularly the tradition of large narrative and landscape byōbu, reinterpreted here with a historicist sensibility. The fact that they form a pair, their considerable dimensions, and the visual continuity between landscape, architecture, and figures particularly accentuate their decorative value.

Japanese folding screens conceived as a continuous landscape composition, in which vast expanses of water connect different scenes featuring characters with a courtly appearance. In one of them, several figures are gathered inside a pavilion open to the landscape; in the other, a small entourage accompanies a figure on horseback, creating a scene with narrative and historical resonance. The landscape is constructed using stylized lines of rippling water, pine trees with sinuous trunks, maples with reddish foliage, and partially concealed architectural elements, while large areas of gold leaf or gold pigment are distributed like mist—a characteristic technique of the Japanese decorative tradition used to separate and link different episodes within a single surface. The delicacy of the figures is a hallmark of the composition, which also features the monumental expanse of the landscape and the deliberate use of negative space, creating a composition of great serenity and refinement.