Screen Calligraphy, Risking One’s Life Here and There – Sakae Umezu (1926-2013)

This two-panel folding screen, created by Sakae Umezu, is a powerful and expressive calligraphic work. Each panel, measuring 84.5 x 90 cm, is painted with ink on paper and framed without silk borders, using black lacquered wood with dark patinated metal reinforcements, enhancing the raw strength of the writing. When fully opened, the screen spans nearly 180 cm, commanding a striking visual presence.

The calligraphy, traced in fluid and vigorous black ink, expresses the phrase « Risking one’s life here and there”. The brushstrokes, at times splattered and irregular, reflect an almost visceral intensity, where life seems to spring forth from each gesture. The strokes, alternating between controlled and explosive, reveal a tension between mastery and surrender, echoing the Japanese concepts of impermanence (muj?) 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 blends philosophical and artistic approaches. Strongly influenced by Zen and the wabi-sabi aesthetic, he was deeply drawn to the tension between the ephemeral and the eternal. In his calligraphy, each stroke becomes a reflection on self-transcendence, the struggle against uncertainty, and humanity’s ability to embrace chaos and find meaning within it.

Through its form and content, this folding screen seems to illustrate the wandering nature of life and the urgency of existence. The two-panel structure may symbolize tension or dialogue, reinforcing the idea that the effort of living, marked by danger or the unknown, is never unilateral. The choice of a folding screen, traditionally used to protect or divide space, becomes here a metaphor for the boundary between stability and flow, survival and transcendence.

Exhibition label affixed to the back and the original cardboard box.