Floating Fans (Ōgi nagashi) c. 16th century

Editor: Here we have "Floating Fans," attributed to Fujinomiya Kunifusa. It's a horizontal composition, quite long, and rendered in what looks like ink and color on paper. I'm struck by the flatness of the picture plane. What do you see in its arrangement? Curator: Note the interplay between the representational and the abstract. Fans, reeds, and water are depicted, yet their arrangement defies natural perspective. Observe how the overlapping forms create a shallow depth, emphasizing the surface. What does this prioritization of surface treatment suggest to you? Editor: Perhaps a focus on the decorative and the two-dimensional qualities of the screen itself, rather than illusionism? Curator: Precisely. The artist seems less concerned with mimetic representation and more interested in exploring the intrinsic qualities of the materials and the compositional possibilities within a limited space. A fascinating study of form and texture. Editor: I hadn't considered the tension between representation and abstraction so explicitly. Thank you for pointing that out!