BLUE MONDAY XVII

Rendered in varying tones of back ink with subtle washes and blue water color, this scroll captures all of the beauty of a masterpiece pot in two dimensions. Painted on paper, this graceful and towering vase has a fluid decoration as only Kawai Kanjiro could render them and at the foot in a rounded cartouche he has signed the scroll using the single kanji; KAN. I am more than particularly fond of preparatory drawings, sketches, water colors, shikishi and scrolls that outline an potter's thoughts in 2-D and this scroll certainly alludes to the brilliance of his masterful, three dimensional forms. Kawai Kanjiro has left a large number of ephemera to document his creativity as well as a good group of calligraphy and paintings created solely as two dimensional works of art. This particular scroll stands somewhere in-between preparatory drawing and work of art and would certainly be exhilarating to see it re-united with the pot which it may have inspired.