L'Arôme de la Rose Sauvage (p-III)

L'Arôme de la Rose Sauvage (p-III) — "The Aroma of the Wild Rose, third state" — is one panel from a serial investigation of a single rose subject, the Roman numeral indicating that Kasai returned to the motif across multiple plates with progressive variations of colour, density, or framing. Wild roses (rosa canina or related species) are characterised by five-petalled open blooms and slender thorned stems, and a Kasai treatment would isolate them against a quiet, evenly graded ground produced by successive silkscreen passes. The reference to scent in the title is typical of his floral editions, in which an olfactory or atmospheric quality is suggested rather than illustrated, often through soft tonal transitions that recall the [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradients of the traditional [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) woodblock. The sheet sits within the floral and garden phase that occupied the artist for much of the 1980s and early 1990s, before the architectural and aquatic subjects took over. The lower-case "p" preceding the numeral III is consistent with Kasai's idiosyncratic edition-marking conventions.