Historically, the folding screen developed
as a flexible wall to create privacy and to separate space from
space. Screens as works of art are first mentioned in literary
sources from the late Chou Dynasty (206 BC -220 AD). China led in
the creating of the art screen until the Sung Dynasty when screens
began to be regarded more as utilitarian objects. Japan assumed
leadership in the production of the folding screen with the
discovery of new hinge construction techniques using layers of
strong paper fibres stretched over a light weight frame. What
followed was a distinguished period of artistic achievement.
The first shipload of oriental screens
arrived in France in 1698. Painters, inspired by the artistry of the
Japanese screens, opened the great period of French art screens.
However, by 1800 the market was sated. After that, virtually no
artist of importance attempted a folding screen anywhere in Europe.
In the 1850s, Corot, and Cezanne began
experimenting with the screen format. What intrigued the French
artists was taking painting off the wall and into the physical space
of the viewer. Unlike a sculpture on a pedestal, the folded screen
could be changed at the will of the viewer.
This is what attracts me to the folded
screen. While utilitarian in that it serves a a functional element
in creating privacy and separating space within space, it is
simultaneously decorative. I take it further by painting on two pieces of sheer fabric with
a different composition on each piece, then layering them to get the
moiré phenomenon. Then as the viewer changes position the images
change. There is a Duchampian quality of seeing through the curtain
to peek and to eaves-drop, a reversal of the functional role of the
screen as barrier.
I see the folding screen as a delightfully
magical piece of art to be played with in an infinite variety of
ways. My screens can be turned back to front, upside down, lighted
theatrically in different ways, easily carried when it comes time to
move house or, when habituation sets in, folded up and put in the
closet to rest.