Principle of Desire, Red

Three reclining nude female figures, rendered in fine black outline, are stacked diagonally down the composition, each wearing a red rose-patterned wrap or sash across the torso and a red rose-patterned band over the eyes. A jagged blue field of scratched, brush-like marks runs vertically behind them against a cream ground, with a solid red block filling the upper right corner and two small sketched lions in profile at upper left. The print is signed and numbered in pencil at the lower margin; this is "Principle of Desire, Red" by Masuo Ikeda, 1966, in dry point, roulette, mezzotint, and engraving.