Blue Parrot

A composition from Ishikawa's 1934 series Rajo Junnshu (Ten Types of Female Nudes), which broke from shin-hanga's bijin-ga conventions by depicting unclothed Western-influenced figures. Blue Parrot pairs a female nude with a perched blue parrot, the bird's saturated plumage providing a chromatic counterpoint to the warm flesh tones modeled in Ishikawa's yoga-derived chiaroscuro. The print demonstrates the technical demands such subjects placed on the carver and printer: skin gradations were achieved through bokashi — graduated wiping of pigment from the woodblock — rather than line-driven modeling, requiring multiple impressions to build the volumetric forms typical of oil painting. The series was published in a small edition by Nakajima Jutaro and comprises the body of work by which Ishikawa is internationally known, distinguishing him from contemporaries like Ito Shinsui and Hashiguchi Goyo, who worked within the clothed bijin-ga lineage.