Interpretive Resource

Detail: Stingray

A red-toned, seemingly mustachioed stingray scowls in this detail of Ikeda Keisen's Fish and Plants,1908.

The execution of these amazing details and the labor that this painting would have required speak of an inner, almost obsessive purpose: this was clearly not a painting created for quick profit or for public exhibition. The creation of the work may even have been a cathartic act for Keisen, as he sought to sort out his memories of the father as parent and professional mentor. Here, perhaps, was his personal way of creating order out of memories: of recreating the memory of his father by copying his sketches, but controlling these recreations within a tightly woven framework of his own making. In the end, this remarkable painting tells us not only about the work of the famous father and the son, but also perhaps of their close relationship to each other.