Nieuw prentenalbum 1900 - 1912

This is a Japanese picture album by Matsui Yûkoku, and what grabs me is the texture of the covers. It’s subtle, like layers of thin washes of grey on paper, and the staining and dirt make you realize it’s an object that’s lived and been used. There’s a certain kind of beauty in the worn and aged appearance of everyday objects, and this album seems to embrace that. The blues used for the stitched binding are muted, and there's a strip with Japanese lettering that grounds the composition. The marks on the cover show use, and time, which is what gives it a kind of humble dignity. You could compare this to some of the drawing books by Paul Klee, where the act of handling and care are implicit in the construction of the art itself. Art, in the end, is an ongoing conversation.