Calla

This sheet is one of Tokitoh's foundational treatments of the calla lily, the motif on which much of her mature reputation rests. Executed in silkscreen — the medium she has worked in almost exclusively since completing her training at Nippon Kogakuin College — the print is the product of her characteristic process: the motif is drawn directly onto the screen rather than transferred from a photograph, and the squeegee is pulled approximately ten times across the editioning sequence, building up close-valued translucent layers of pale grey, soft blue, and faint green. The cumulative impressions produce the soft watercolour-like depth that the artist is known for, with subtle internal modelling that reads more like wash than print. The trumpet-shaped spathe curls around the central spadix with the asymmetry characteristic of the species, and the form is allowed to occupy almost the entire sheet without competition from foliage or framing. The single-flower format aligns her work loosely with the [kacho-e](/glossary/kacho-e) tradition while her tonal restraint marks a distinctly contemporary sensibility.