The painted paper-folding screen “Byobu” is one of the most distinctive forms of Japanese art, and served many purposes throughout Japanese culture and history. For instance, small two-fold screens were used for tea ceremony, while large six-panel screens served as back-drops for dances or concerts, even for outdoor processions, and sometimes as an enclosure for Buddhist rituals or an audience with nobles. The first Japanese screens to reach the western world were brought from Japan to Europe by the Jesuits and presented to Pope Gregory XIII in the latter part of the 16th century. Japanese screens appeared quite frequently in the shipping lists of the Dutch East India Company in the mid 17th century.

With the introduction of the Art Nouveau movement, after the turn of the century, Japanese screens became a statement of fashion and house decoration in Europe and the United States.

As World War II ended, the understanding of the Japanese arts deepened and Japanese screens were being favored again. Young Robert Crowder returned to Japan in 1943 with the full knowledge of Japanese arts, which he acquired from the most prominent Japanese painting master of the Time, Shunko Mochizuki.

Crowder devoted himself to painting an uncountable number of Japanese screens and eventually the “Crowder Screen” became a synonymous word for “Japanese Screen” in this country.