Page:Brinkley - The Art of Japan, vol. 1.djvu/15

Rh biyobu that formed an elbow of glowing tints and delicate fancies to embrace the pillow of the lady of the household;—second, the panels of the sliding doors that separated rooms, or gave access to cup-boards and quaintly contrived nooks; and, third, the alcove recess, where a hanging picture occupied the background with a censer supported on a stand in the middle distance and a flower vase and an okimono balancing each other in the foreground. Screens and door-panels, whatever their position or uses, do not rise above the rank of articles of furniture: the designs applied to them must be purely decorative. But a picture hanging in an alcove seems at first sight to occupy a higher place and to offer a worthier opportunity for the display of representative art. In the Japanese system, however, the alcove picture was primarily an alcove ornament. It had to take its place in a decorative scheme; had to harmonise with, not to eclipse, its surroundings; to accompany the, not to stand apart from them. The European or American hangs his pictures with regard simply to the wall space at his disposal and the direction of his lights. The picture is the sole object of his consideration; everything is sacrificed to it. He builds a special gallery for the exhibition of these treasures, if he is so fortunate as to possess a sufficient number, and he takes care that nothing in the gallery shall clash with its prime purpose, the display of the paintings. But a Japanese never shows more than one picture, or one set of pictures, at a time. If he has a large collection, he keeps them in his fire-proof storeroom, and gives to each in turn a temporary place in the alcove recess. Hanging there, a picture must satisfy the same canon as the objects associated with it: the eye must find equal pleasure in regarding it from every part of the room. Thus it is at once radically differentiated from the picture of Occidental art, the picture which must be seen from one special point of view