<b>A COUPLE OF CATS</b> / Tomoo Inagaki1958<b>SOLD</b></em>
ARTIST: Tomoo Inagaki (1902-1980)
TITLE: A Couple of Cats
EDITION: 49/50
MEDIUM: Woodblock
DATE: c. 1958
DIMENSIONS: 25 x 18 inches
CONDITION: Minor wrinkling and printer’s creases at margins; faint thinning and adhesive residue on reverse top margin, otherwise in fine state
LITERATURE: Tomoo Inagaki Complete Collected Works, Keisho-sha, 1982, pg. 149
Details
Tomoo Inagaki produced his first cat design in the early 1950s, inspired by his own pet cat. That work, in fact, was oriented more towards realism. As Inagaki continued his cat designs, he elected to move in the direction of simplification and incorporate elements of abstraction. In this design, the artist elects for geometric simplification that showcases a strong mid-century modern feeling. The bold design relies heavily on the thick lines that build and hold the composition in place. Inagaki simplifies the cat’s appearance with the addition of lines and small gouges that suggests patterns, texture, and color. The artist intersects design elements from one cat and merges them onto the other, at the center portion of the design, suggesting movement—a quality found on his best cat designs, such as this one.
Connoisseur's Note
This design is part of the first early edition of 50. A later edition of 210 was produced a few years later in the early 60s. That second state contained a color change for the gray fur pattern on the cat at the right and alternate color block for the gray area at the top right. The first state of this design has a softer or more emotional quality while the later version appears more symbolic and intellectual.
