Black Neckband

The neckband of a kimono—black against the paler ground of the woman's neck and upper garment—provides both title and compositional focus for this spring 1928 print, its mica-enriched background lending a subtle luminosity to the close study. Like its companion "Black Collar" from the same year, this work demonstrates Shinsui's interest in narrow formal problems: how a single detail of dress, precisely observed, can organize and anchor a composition. The mica ground was a technical flourish Watanabe's workshop excelled at.