Blue Parrot

A second impression of Blue Parrot from Ishikawa's 1934 Rajo Junnshu (Ten Types of Female Nudes). Variations between impressions of shin-hanga prints can arise from changes in baren pressure, pigment mixing, or paper batch; the registration of multiple woodblocks across washi could shift subtly between print runs, producing perceptible differences in saturation and tonal balance. Ishikawa's nude series was hand-printed in limited numbers by Nakajima Jutaro's workshop, and surviving impressions vary in the depth of bokashi gradations, the warmth of flesh tones, and the saturation of the parrot's plumage. The persistence of the Blue Parrot composition in collections, and the existence of multiple impressions, reflects its standing as among the more frequently reproduced images from a series whose combination of nude subject matter and woodblock technique was unusual within the shin-hanga movement.