Nieuw prentenalbum - tweede deel 1900 - 1912

Matsui Yûkoku made this album, titled “New Picture Album - Part Two,” sometime in the past, using ink and color on paper. It lives now in the Rijksmuseum. The book has a calm, worn surface. I’m curious about the texture. The grey tone of the paper, combined with areas of rubbing and staining, suggest that the making of this album was a hands-on process. It's interesting to me that the cover also has a label with elegant black writing on it. The contrast between the aged, handmade quality of the album and the crisp characters makes me think about the act of communication over time. It reminds me of the work of Cy Twombly, who was also interested in the relationship between writing and mark-making. What’s so great about art is that it doesn’t give us all the answers. It allows us to engage with the work, question it, and hopefully, find our own meaning within it.