$500–$4,000. Common subjects: $500–$1,500. Key value factors: As an early sosaku-hanga pioneer, Kawakami's prints have historical significance. His distinctive graphic style is collected.
"Egeresu Iroha Seibutsu" (Still Life Illustrations of the English Alphabet) is one of Kawakami's most ingenious conceptual works: a still-life series in which each composition is organized around a letter of the English alphabet — "egeresu" being an older Japanese rendering of "English." The combination of Western alphabetic form with the Japanese genre of still-life (seibutsu) painting produces a work that is simultaneously a language lesson, a visual joke, and an investigation of the ways different writing systems impose different visual disciplines on their learners.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Egeresu iroha seibutsu (Still Life Illustrations of the English Alphabet) was created by Sumio Kawakami (川上澄生).
Egeresu iroha seibutsu (Still Life Illustrations of the English Alphabet) depicts still life.
