Seiei: A Design Book 1907

This design book, Seiei, by Yamada Chosaburō, is a trip! Imagine the artist’s hand carefully placing these fragments of pattern and image onto the blue paper. There's a theatricality in the clash of patterns, the fairy-like figures in chariots, and the floral swatch. What story is suggested here? I wonder if Yamada was into collage and assemblage, playing with scraps of pattern, texture, and color to build this composition. Was this a study of visual contrasts and harmonies? The artist's choices reveal a playful way of experimenting with the relationships between different images. This piece reminds me of the work of other painters, like Elizabeth Murray, who built up paintings in layers and fragments. All artists are in a conversation, playing and experimenting, in a state of perpetual inquiry into art making.