Parakeet on Table 1924

Yamamura Toyonari made this print of a parakeet, we don’t know exactly when, but we can see that it’s made with flat planes of color, and attention to decorative detail, which speaks of a process where each part of the image has been carefully considered in relation to the whole. The tabletop with its repeating floral pattern is so inviting, and the parakeet is a marvel! Look at the way the colours describe form, see the lilacs and yellows, greens and blues. It’s a mix of the natural and the unnatural, which gives the print a dreamlike quality. The red beak against the lilac head is like a jolt. The eye, a simple dark circle, watches us watching it. It is caught in a dance between real observation and invented form. This piece reminds me of Bonnard, especially in the way that domestic space becomes a theatre for colour and light. But here, the colour feels more symbolic, and less about capturing a fleeting moment. Art is always in conversation, changing and shifting across time. The best art holds onto its mysteries.