Details
The image
A bird or a flower drawn with an outline of even weight, colour laid inside the line in flat areas, the background left as paper. The composition uses empty space as deliberately as it uses marks and nothing is shaded to suggest depth.
Where it comes from
The print belongs to Yatsuo no tsubaki, the series Taguchi Tomoki made between 1860 and 1869 and it was produced the way all Japanese woodblocks of the period were: the designer drew the outline, the cutter followed it along the grain, the printer laid each colour from a separate block. The discipline of that division shows in the result, contour first, colour second, no modelling and the approach shaped European graphic art profoundly once prints began arriving in the West.
On the wall
It suits a study, a bedroom or a reading corner, where a quiet image with generous space can do its work. Because the palette is limited and the line is fine, it needs good light and a wall that is not too busy. In a group it should be the calmest piece.
In company
Pairs well with pale wood, paper lanterns and other works on paper and it looks best in a light frame with a wide mount. Avoid saturated neighbours, the flat colour would lose its edge. Hung lower than usual, it invites the viewer to step closer. Paired with another print from the Japanese collection, it reads as a sequence.
