Crimson Butterfly

Crimson Butterfly, produced between 1981 and 1990, depicts a butterfly in deep red tones against the dark ground characteristic of Hamaguchi's color mezzotint work. Insects appear alongside fruit and vessels as a recurring subject across his career, valued for the challenge of rendering wing venation and the translucency of wing membranes through a medium that works exclusively in subtractive light. The crimson coloration required careful layering of warm pigments, as saturated reds in mezzotint must be built up through multiple passes rather than mixed optically on the plate. The butterfly floats in darkness without environmental context—no flower, branch, or surface—concentrating attention entirely on the insect's form and the quality of reflected light on its wings.