Le Pretre De Sendo-ji. Oiwake, Japon 1954

Paul Jacoulet made this print, Le Pretre De Sendo-ji, in Oiwake, Japan, using what looks like a very graphic, block-printed approach. There’s a way that printmaking, and especially this kind of printmaking, reveals process. The flatness in this print is striking, it feels like Jacoulet is pushing against depth. Look at how the folds in the priest’s purple robe are described. Each form is clearly delineated but feels totally considered. The layering and overlapping of colours create a luminous effect and sense of depth, especially in the treatment of the robe, which reads almost like a collage. There is a wonderful contrast between the patterned hat, and the flat block of colour in the background. It all has a kinship with someone like Matisse, who also used pattern and flatness to create these amazing pictorial spaces. And just like in Matisse, here too the ambiguity lets the eye wander.