Iris No 74 — 花菖蒲 No 74

The seventy-fourth iris by Sugiura Kazutoshi is a close companion to its neighbors in the series, sharing their fundamental commitment to the hana-shōbu as the sole subject of sustained artistic attention. The number seventy-four falls within a run of prints that collectors and critics have noted for their particularly refined color relationships — the interaction between the violet and blue tones of the iris petals and the warm gold of the background achieving an especially successful harmony in this part of the series. Sugiura's training in classical Japanese painting gave him a deep understanding of color as a relational, not simply descriptive, phenomenon.