Paul Jacoulet

Original Paul Jacoulet woodcut, printed in colours.

Outstanding impression with fresh, unfaded colours; printed in shades of pink, green, orange, brown, red, blue and black inks. Pencil signed proof with the red owl stamp and with the printed title and Japanese inscription outside the image borderline. Numbered with the red stamp in the margin verso, from the only edition of 350 impressions (Miles states that less than 275 impressions were printed).

Paul Jacoulet’s prints of this order were astonishingly complicated to print – he was the first ukiyo-e artist to use more than 50 blocks to create a single print; often using between 200 and 300 printings with the blocks to achieve the desired effect for just one finished proof. This outstanding proof is a particularly fine example of this characteristically stylish nude.

The finest of Paul Jacoulet’s few female nudes, this image did not appeal to Jacoulet’s regular subscribers who were of a rather different persuasion, but was particularly well received by a wider range of collectors than most of his normal works. Paul Jacoulet’s personal orientation is suggested by the strategically placed insectivorous plants with their trap-like orifices leading to long tubular chambers of slow corrosive death for those unwary creatures enticed to enter.

The blocks for this work were carved by Paul Jacoulet’s favourite cutter, Kentaro Maeda and this impression was printed under Paul Jacoulet’s personal supervision by Fusakichi Ogawa.

On firm cream simile Japan paper with full margins and deckle edge. Small tape marks at extreme outer edges of sheet and one or two creases towards base, otherwise generally very fine original condition.