Title: Hi No Tori (Fire Bird)
Creator: Hiromitsu Nakazawa (1874-1964)
Date: Unknown
Medium: Woodblock Print
Culture: Japanese
Repository: None (Auctioned)
Description: A wood block print portrait of a beautiful, pale woman. The features of her face are of Japanese style with the use of bold blues and reds to highlight her beauty. She wears a dress shown down to her mid-chest area that uses red, yellow, and outlines of orange in a pattern that gives the visage of flaming wings. Actual wings can be seen behind the woman. The her hair uses the same yellow and orange outline without the red. It is spread out and up in a more flowing style that matches the shape of the dress. On top of her head is a red circle, and clouds are in the corners and bottom of the print. All these features combined give the impression that the woman is meant to represent a phoenix flying through the sky. The artist’s inspiration came from a Russian ballet called “L’oiseau de Feu” (Fire Bird). The portrait may represent what the dancer would look like in the performance, or how she is described as in the ballet script.
Reference: https://www.artelino.com/articles/art_nouveau.asp
