Striped Camellias by Kazumasa Exhibition Animals descriptive style of 19th-century natural

descriptive style of 19th-century natural history illustration

the layered foliage

The figure is caught in a moment of easy self-possession

The companion piece to its ascending counterpart

Striped Camellias by Kazumasa Exhibition Animals descriptive style of 19th-century naturalCamellia japonica, with its precise, formal petals, was a favourite subject in both Japanese painting and early botanical photography and Kazumasa's striped variety is a particularly striking example. The flowers are caught in their prime: petals patterned in clean stripes of crimson and white, the geometry almost architectural in its regularity. His collotype process reproduces the pigmentation with a fidelity that no hand coloured engraving could