Red Dragonfly (赤とんぼ)

Designer: Kitagawa Utamaro | Carver: David Bull | Printer: Yasue Tsushima

Paper size: 20.5cm by 15cm | Enlargement | Shipping Code: [M] ? ( Change currency: $ / £ / € )

Price: $ 75.00£ 56.50€ 64.50

   

Description: This print is from the first of three illustratedrnvolumes combining kyoka poetry and scenes from nature that Utamarornproduced in the period from 1788 to 1790. Insects are the theme ofrnthe first book, sea-shells are featured in the second, and bird lifernin the third. These books are exceedingly rare, and of course a smallrnand delicate book is a difficult thing to exhibit properly, so somernof his finest work thus remains hidden from view and unknown to therngeneral public.

The background of this print is embellished with scattered sunagorn(crushed gold leaf), and ummo (powdered mica) is used onrnthe wings of the dragonfly. It really makes a beautiful effect; whenrnI saw the first proof print I almost expected him to fly off thernpage, he looked so realistic! I have mixed feelings about using toornmuch of this sort of 'glittery' stuff; it can tend to make the printrnlook 'cheap' I think. But many of the old surimono prints usedrnpowdered metals such as gold, silver, brass, or copper, and it seemsrnthat it is simply a matter of discretion - not too much, but just thernright touch in the right place ...

Each insect in the original book is paired with a poem, and thernone on this print is by Akera Kanko, a poet with a strong connectionrnwith Utamaro; his poems are also included in the two other naturernbooks. Entitled 'Red Dragonfly' (Aka Tombo) it is a lovernpoem that seems to be drawing a comparison between the 'lovesick'rnwriter, who, like the dragonfly without a voice, is unable to expressrnhis love. The original purchasers of the books in this series back inrnthe mid-Edo era were of course connoisseurs of such poetry, and wouldrnsee the words and images as being of equal importance. For us though,rnliving in a different culture, one in which most of the subtlernnuances and references in the poetry have faded away with the passingrnof time, the poem becomes simply a visual object, part of the overallrnimage itself.rn

   

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