Towing

Isaku Nakagawa

Printmaker and painter Isaku Nakagawa’s roots in traditional Japanese arts and crafts continued to influence his work long after he delved into Modernism. He began designing fabric on the heels of a successful color woodcut career, during which he became known for the elaborate kimono patterns in his depictions of fashionable women.

In “Towing,” he has stripped his composition down to the barest elements, relying solely on texture and well balanced contrast, yet the stamp of his artistic path shows through in his use of unique, individual patterns for each of the figures’ clothes, how they reflect on the tide-rippled sand, and how the background elements (the boat, the landmass) mimic the patterns.