Untitled (Festival), 1962

Color stencil and woodblock print

15 x 19 inches (38.1 x 48.3 cm)

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of
Benjamin D. Bernstein, 1970

1970-224-18

This print is a remarkable and abstract combination of the aesthetics of Japanese folk art and textile dyeing techniques. Rather than depicting an actual scene of a Shintō festival, the artist uses earthy and bright colors to convey the atmosphere of such a religious holiday. The textured paper reinforces the sense of joy and celebration. Employing stencils from dyeing methods along with woodblock visually transforms the print into a fragment of a dyed silk kimono.

Daria Melnikova