Screen - Calligraphy - Risking one's life here and there - Sakae Umezu 1926-2013

This two-panel folding screen by Sakae Umezu is a powerful and expressive calligraphic work. Each panel, measuring 84.5 x 90 cm, is painted in ink on paper framed without silk margins with black lacquer rods with dark patinated metal reinforcements, highlighting the raw power of the writing. When opened, the entire screen reaches nearly 180 cm, deploying a striking visual presence.

The calligraphy, drawn in black ink, is fluid and vigorous and expresses the phrase "あちらこちら命がけ" "Risking one's life here and there." The line, sometimes splashed and irregular, reflects an almost visceral intensity, where life seems to burst forth through every gesture. The brushstrokes, sometimes controlled, sometimes explosive, reveal a struggle between mastery and surrender, an echo of the Japanese concepts of impermanence (mujō) and transcendence through total commitment.

Sakae Umezu (1926-2013), known primarily as an actor, also distinguished himself as a scholar and calligrapher. His work often blended a philosophical and artistic approach. Strongly influenced by Zen and wabi-sabi aesthetics, he was interested in the tension between the ephemeral and the eternal. In his calligraphies, each stroke becomes a reflection on self-transcendence, the struggle against uncertainty, and the human capacity to embrace chaos and derive meaning from it.

This screen, through its form and content, seems to illustrate the itinerancy of life and the urgency of existence. The choice of a two-panel support could symbolize tension or dialogue, reinforcing the idea that the effort to live, marked by danger or the unknown, is never one-sided. The choice of the screen, traditionally used to protect or divide space, here becomes a metaphor for the boundary between stability and flux, between survival and transcendence.

Exhibition label on the back and on the original cardboard box.

Folding Screen – Calligraphy – Risking One's Life Here and There – Sakae Umezu 1926-2013