mum's the word

they don't know who made this print, so they don't know when. the japanese chrysanthemum.

this one they do know, it's from the late 1800s, and it's by bairei kono, creator of lovely, simple images of fruits, vegetables, flowers, puppies, and other familiars of everyday life, seen unadorned, and beautifully.

in 1893, keika hasegawa put out his '100 chrysanthemums.' i can find no reference to anything else he ever did, nor anything about him. but i like his mums.

it was 1904 when seguy put out his art nouveau flower pouchoirs, and lithographs. japonisme in full... uh... bloom.

jo worked in the 1920s and 30s in japan, though it has been suggested that he may not be japanese. but don't you love that little grasshopper.

shodo kawarazaki's two prints come out of the 1950s, a tradition worth keeping, kept.

and this is from 1995, and not from japan at all, but much of this artist's work shows a clear understanding of the sensibility.

many thanks to cerf à paillettes for turning me on to robert kushner.







when japan did what it inadvertently did to teach us seeing, it left a lasting impression.

or adoration?

we have keika hasegawa making one of his 100 chrysanthemums prints in 1893 on the left,












and on the right we have eugene seguy making his lithographs of chrysanthemums in 1904.

tracing fascination

for as long as i can remember, the print, rather than the painting, has fascinated me; i've thought of it as poetry rather than prose. prints have a translucent quality: they're filled with light.

keika hasegawa (active c. 1893-1905)
Chrysanthemum 17
from 'one hundred chrysanthemums, 1893