Puppies 1909 - 1910

Kamisaka Sekka made 'Puppies,' probably with ink and colour on paper; it’s hard to know for sure. What is clear is that Sekka knew the value of a limited palette. The dogs, the bamboo and the snail are all rendered in tones of grey, white and black, which lends a dreamlike quality. The artist plays with positive and negative space here; the whiteness of the pup is almost like a cut-out against the darker tones. The work feels both abstract and figurative, like a memory. Look at how the dark ink bleeds into the paper, creating these soft, blurry edges. The bamboo stalks, with their heavy, dripping ink, contrast with the delicate, almost hesitant lines of the puppies’ forms. It's this tension between control and chance that makes it so interesting. Sekka's 'Puppies' reminds me of work by contemporary artists like Yayoi Kusama, who also explore ideas of repetition and pattern in their work. But where Kusama is maximal, Sekka is all about elegant restraint. It’s this ambiguity between the cute and slightly sinister which makes it so compelling, I think.