Kumi Sugai - 水瓶座 (Verseau)

A striking print by Kumi Sugai: Verseau. A stacked ripple of electric blues floats inside a deep black disc, pin-pointed by two red arrows. Water waves meets graphic, distilled into crisp geometry. ♒️🛣️

• Year & Edition: 1972 · Ed. 19/100 (signed & editioned in pencil).
  
• Medium: Silkscreen on Arches (printed by SUGAI, Paris; published by Print Art, Tokyo).
  
• Dimensions: Sheet H: 53.00 cm × W: 50.00 cm · Image H: 44.00 cm × W: 44.00 cm.
  
• Condition: Vibrant colour; paper edges sharp & intact. Minor surface mark at ~4 o’clock of image.
  
• Notes: Aquarius (Verseau) - from Sugai’s 1st 1972 星座シリーズ (Constellation/Signs of the Zodiac) series. A beautiful series which was followed a year later by a further Consellation series of larger (70cm x70cm) design. Raisonné No: #170. (Reference: Katsuo Hara (Art Dune) | Sugaï. Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre gravé 1955-96 | 1996). 

About the Artist

Kumi Sugai (1919-1996) crafted a bold, graphic print language fusing Japanese calligraphy, Western letterforms, and modern geometric abstraction. A former Hankyu Railway designer, in the 1960's, alongside his paintings, he developed his printmaking - hard-edge compositions evoking road culture and traffic codes: arrows, chevrons, numerals, and directional symbols - motifs iconic to his work from the mid-1960's onward. He won the Grand Prix at the 1966 Kraków International Print Biennial and was appointed a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur in 1971; his works are held by the National Museum of Modern Art (Tokyo & Kyoto), the Centre Pompidou, the British Museum, and the Guggenheim. [ ← View All Works by Kumi Sugai]