A cluster of birds, their shapes reminding of cranes, is shown flying from right to left on this pair of six-panel folding screens. Facing the painting, one imagines feeling the commotion in the air caused by the continuous flapping of the many wings passing by. The birds seem to fly right to left, though one almost expects one or the other to suddenly turn its head around, looking at the viewer... then leading all the birds to do the same, with the whole flock changing direction and flying straight at us... The fear is perhaps half-consciously evoked by the pointed beaks and flight feathers looking like the blade-like leafs of a yucca plant. 

In Japanese art, the question of what is the left and what is the right part of a pair of folding screens is determined by the subject matter, composition, and the position of seals and signatures. In this pair of screens, however, the artist omitted seals and signatures, and only from the composition it is difficult to decide upon the direction of the painting. If the screen with the fifteen birds was on the right, and the one with the twelve birds on the left, the shapes join into one form that gives away the impression of natural flight. If the screens were arranged the other way around the birds would fly from the lower right corner to the left in a slight upward movement but then turn downward again as if something had caused them to change direction. The contrast between these two ways of arranging is curious. Perhaps the artist had in mind to treat this painting not in a conventional juxtaposition of left and right screen, but as if they were imaginary window frames through which we see the birds passing by. 

Shimomura Ryonosuke was born in 1923 and studied traditional nihonga at the Kyoto Municipal School of Painting. In 1949, at the age of twenty-six, he founded the Panreal Art Association, aiming to push nihonga towards a radical renewal. The initial statement issued by the group was a declaration of defiance towards the art world: “… eliminate complacency! Break down the feudalistic, guild-like structures that the encrusted exlusiveness of the ivory tower [of art] is built upon, then we can nurture a free art.” Four years after establishing Panreal, Shimomura’s thematic focus shifted towards birds. He later said, “I began to concentrate on birds about ten years ago. Back then, I painted sparrows, herons, and crows and maintained the individual characteristics of these species. But somehow my approach has changed, and the birds I am painting now of course remain birds, but you wouldn’t be able anymore to tell the kind. They have become birds of the heart. I want to create shapes that show more of the essence and beauty of birds, so they start turning into dream birds.” This seems just what ran through Shimomura’s mind when creating the present work, where inner life force and external shape that nature has given to the birds overlaps and fuses with the painter’s mind.

Shimomura Ryonosuke (nihonga painter, copperplate printmaker; 1923–1998)
A native of Osaka and graduate of the Kyoto Municipal School of Painting, Shimomura founded Panreal art association in 1949, aiming to revolutionize nihonga. Initially influenced by Cubism, he later shifted his interest to a linear Abstract Expressionism, centering of motifs of birds. Technically versatile, Shimomura experimented with papier-mâché, collage and various coloring innovative methods. He exhibited widely in Japan and abroad and was designated a Person of Cultural Merit of Kyoto City. In 1966, Shimomura was appointed a professor at Otani University and recevied various awards, including the Art and Culture Prize of Kyoto in 1987.