L'Arabesque d'Olivier

L'Arabesque d'Olivier translates as "The Arabesque of the Olive" and almost certainly depicts the twisting branches and silver-grey foliage of an olive tree resolved into a flowing, decorative line — an arabesque in the literal compositional sense. The Mediterranean subject reflects Kasai's long residence in France following his 1978 departure from Tokyo and his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts, where he absorbed a European sensibility that he then carried back into the Japanese print medium. Technically, a Kasai silkscreen of this kind would be built up from many layered passes, each contributing a narrow tonal increment so that the leaves and bark read as continuous [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi)-like gradients rather than as flat colour fields. The French title is consistent with his sustained habit of titling editions in French even when the imagery is botanical or East Asian in feeling. Within his body of work, the print belongs to the earlier floral and garden phase that preceded his architectural elevations and the later underwater series for which he is now better known.