Net Fishing

Wakaki Takashi, born in Kumamoto Prefecture, studied Japanese-style painting under Katayama Nampu at the Imperial Art School (now Musashino Art University). He later apprenticed with Yokoyama Taikan, but his career was interrupted by military conscription and deployment. After returning from Siberia following the war, Wakaki primarily exhibited at the Inten (Japan Art Institute exhibition). He was based in Chiba City, where he drew inspiration from the seaside. His depictions of women at work, carp, and other subjects garnered him awards such as the Japan Art Institute Prize (Taikan Prize), and he was posthumously nominated as a fellow of the Japan Art Institute. This meticulously composed and rendered portrayal of four figures working together to haul in a net makes powerful use of the folding screen’s horizontally elongated format. The artist varied nearly every aspect of the figures while maintaining consistency in the shared net-pulling action central to the picture, underscoring the magnitude of their joint endeavor. Their robust builds and stoic expressions, in shades of orange, are influenced by Egyptian art, from which Wakaki drew inspiration. (J.A.)