Thursday, February 17, 2022

Folding screens

Some of the first uses of folding screens were rather practical. They were used to prevent draft in homes, as indicated by the two characters in their Chinese name: ping (屛 "screen; blocking") and feng (風 "breeze, wind"). They were also used to bestow a sense of privacy; in classical times, folding screens were often placed in rooms to be used as dressing screens for ladies. Folding screens can be set up to partition a large room and change the interior features of the space.
~Wikipedia


For Art Thursday, folding screens. Katayama Bokuyō's is one I would love to own. "[Bokuyō] submitted this painting [to Japan's annual Imperial Juried Exhibition] showing a weasel nearly hidden in a tangled bed of flowering fishmint (dokudani) deep in the forest. The judges were so impressed that he was given the status of mukansa, literally "non-vetted," meaning that henceforth any painting he submitted to the annual exhibition would be automatically included." (Minneapolis Institute of Art)

Forest on silk
by Katayama Bokuyō, 1928

Screen, 1885-1910
designed by John Henry Dearle

Korean screen, Choson period, Musée Guimet
photo by Miguel Hermoso Cuesta

Folding screen
designed by Hans Christiansen, made by Georg Hulbe, Hamburg, 1897, leather
photo by Daderot

Folding screen with stylized peacocks
designer: Chris Lebeau furniture maker: 't Woonhuys, ca. 1910-1930

Screen from northern India
late 19th century, wood, ivory and metal hardware
photo by Hiart


1 comment:

HWY said...

These screens are all beautiful...they look great, practical or not.

We have a folding screen in our house that we use to screen off the kitty litter boxes.

The Forest on Silk screen is awesome...and I found the weasel. :-)