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A Thousand Butterflies (Chō senshu) : [volume 2]

Kamisaka, Sekka, 1866-1942 · 1903 · Kyoto: Yamada Unsōdō 山田芸艸堂 · 8 pictures

A Thousand Butterflies, volume 2, is a Japanese pattern book of butterfly designs made by the artist Kamisaka Sekka and published in Kyoto in 1903 by Yamada Unsōdō, aimed at artists and craftspeople. Its pictures show butterflies in loose scattered arrangements, rendered in flat colour blocks, bold woodblock-like outlines, and fine linear strokes in muted greens, blues, browns and purples, which a designer could borrow for textile, paper or wallpaper motifs.

Butterflies in art

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art · No known copyright restrictions · More from this library