No 84 Pansy

The eighty-fourth work in what appears to be a broad numbered series, this pansy (sumiresō) composition applies Sugiura Kazutoshi's layered printmaking technique to a small, humble flower that might seem an unlikely subject for a printmaker whose work hangs in MoMA and the Brooklyn Museum. But the pansy's velvety, face-like bloom and its variety of color combinations made it a popular subject in Japanese woodblock printing from the Meiji period onward, and Sugiura finds in it the same formal richness he discovers in the more traditionally prestigious iris. The gold-leaf ground elevates the modest flower without overwhelming it.