Chrysanthemum Boy 1909 - 1910

Kamisaka Sekka made this image, titled Chrysanthemum Boy, with ink and colour on silk. Look at how Sekka uses the ink; it's almost like he's playing with it, letting it bleed and blend to create soft, dreamy textures. The colours are muted, gentle. The boy himself is like a ghost, floating between the dark rocks and those dreamy yellow chrysanthemums. And it's the materiality of the ink on silk that really grabs me. There is a fluidity, the sense of a momentary, passing vision. Look at the way the ink washes into the silk, it's thin and transparent, but the more concentrated areas have a gorgeous depth. I like the ambiguous shape of the black rock, like a Rorschach blot. It reminds me a bit of Odilon Redon and his strange, symbolist visions. Ultimately, it’s this very ambiguity that makes the piece so compelling. Sekka isn't trying to tell us one specific story, but opening up a space for us to dream, to wander, to get lost in the beautiful, subtle world he’s created.