Bamboo in Fine Weather after Rain, mid-1700s. Ike Taiga (Japanese, 1723-1776). Two-panel folding screen; ink on paper; image: 163.2 x 182.6 cm (64 1/4 x 71 7/8 in.). As this two-fold byøbu demonstrates, Taiga ranks among the most creative painters of the Edo period. By sheer industry and with unfettered talent, in three and one-half decades he produced an oeuvre exceeding one thousand compositions, in various formats. While he was unencumbered by a traditional education in the classical literature and philosophy of Chinese civilization, he nevertheless gravitated toward standard themes. He was familiar with native painting themes and techniques, but his circle--fellow artists, writers, and intellectuals--all favored the cultural realm of the artist-scholar grounded in Chinese studies. Skilled with brush and ink, and a consummate professional, Taiga had begun supporting himself and his widowed mother while he was still a teenager. Their livelihood depended on the sale of his pictures a