花の調 Hana no Shirabe (Flower Tone) [W/ 50 POCHOIR PLATES]
京都市 (Kyoto): マリア画房 (Maria Gabou), 1931. First edition. Hardcover. Oblong quarto. Unpaginated. Housed in its original blue cloth portfolio, with a black-lettered white silk label, and bone fasteners. Green cloth boards with a black-lettered white silk label on the front cover. Leporello binding, with plates on both sides.
A scarce and gorgeous work comprised of 50 large pochoir plates of floral and botanical images by the Japanese artist Sadao Murakami. Images measure 11x 15 1/4" and are tipped on to plates of heavy stock paper with a debossed border. Each of the multi-colored pochoir images (25 plates) is paired opposite a complimentary image, that acts as a more abstracted suggestion of the same environment, utilizing negative space and printed usually in only a few tones with a less detailed color scheme (25 plates). On first glance many of the said images appear in a manner suggesting the offsetting that often happens to the facing pages of illustrated plates. This work features representations of all manner of flowers, buds and leaves, as well as instances of pomegranates, insects and lily pads to name just a few. Includes a table of contents in Japanese.
The work is extremely scarce with no OCLC holdings worldwide.
Portfolio with bumped and abraded along one of the hinges, light rubbing to corners, and a few light stains and smudges to the covers. Printed description of the book in English, from the historic Dawson's Book Shop in Los Angeles, pasted on the interior flap of the portfolio. Binding with minor foxing to the silk label on the front cover. Hinges of the binding at the front and back boards, reinforces with Japan tissue. A few sporadic and very minor instances of foxing to the plates, mostly in the margins. Notable foxing to only one plate. Portfolio in good+, binding in very good-, interior in very good+ condition overall. g+ to vg+. Item #51941
Alternate Kanji: 花乃調
Alternate translation: Flower Style
Artist Sadao Murakami was born in Osaka and graduated from Kyoto City Specialist School of Painting in 1930. He is known to have been active in the Sosaku-hanga artistic movement in the Kansai region, during this period. The Murakami produced a few other similar portfolios of floral and botanical prints, following this work, between 1932-33 (published by Unsodo).
The Maria Gabou (Maria Gallery) was originally founded in Kyoto in 1925, reproducing early-modern woodblock prints, and printing woodblock prints by modern Japanese painters. Later the publishing house was renamed Maria Shobo (マリア書房).
Price: $6,500.00