Bijutsukai Pl.115
1901
Furuya Kōrin, a master who helped revive the decorative Rimpa style in the early 20th century, filled this 1901 illustration for the art magazine *Bijutsukai* with a fluttering menagerie of butterflies. Notice the bold, graphic stripes on the large black-and-white swallowtails, which contrast beautifully with the delicate, pale blue wings of the specimen at the top right. This plate showcases the artist's ability to blend careful natural observation with stylized elegance, a hallmark of Japanese traditional art that influenced designs on everything from kimonos to lacquerware. It’s like a snapshot of a summer garden frozen in time, just waiting to take flight off the page.
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