Nicholas Savard

Portfolio of Six Aquatints by Tadaaki Kuwayama (Japanese, 1932–2023) The Limited Editions Club, New York, 1990

Six aquatints, each one a single geometric form — or
pair of forms — positioned with absolute deliberateness on a sheet of handmade
Japanese paper. A crimson square. A black square. A ghost of a square, barely there,
pressed into the surface as a ghostly blind emboss. An inverted triangle, then an
upright one, then both together in silent conversation. Kuwayama gives you a shape, a
color, a ground, and nothing else. !e space around each form is not empty; it is the
work.
These six aquatints were commissioned by The Limited Editions Club of New York for
its 1990 portfolio — a prestigious imprint with a long history of pairing the world's
great writers with artists of equal stature. Kuwayama was the ideal choice: his entire
career had been devoted to the reduction of art to its most irreducible essentials, and
the aquatint medium — with its ability to hold flat, velvety passages of pure tone —
suited his vision perfectly. The plates were made by master printmaker Peter Pettengill
and editioned at the renowned Wingate Studio on sheets of Ichibei Iwano paper, a
hand-laid Japanese paper of exceptional quality. Each impression in the edition of 40
was signed and numbered on the verso by the artist himself.
Displayed as a set — as they are here, in matching gold frames — the six works function
as a complete visual argument: a meditation on form, presence, and the power of
restraint. Red and black, square and triangle, positive and negative. Together they make
a room quiet in the best possible way. Separately, each is a masterwork of economy.
Kuwayama's work appears in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum, MoMA, the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Albright-Knox, among many others.
This portfolio represents an exceptional opportunity to acquire a complete signed and
numbered set.

ARTIST - Tadaaki Kuwayama (1932–2023)
YEAR 1990
MEDIUM Aquatint with line etching on Ichibei Iwano handmade
Japanese paper
EDITION 31/40 — each signed and numbered on the verso by the artist
D IMENSIONS - 31½ × 23½ in (each) — complete set of 6
PUBLISHER - Limited Editions Club, New York
PRINTMAKER -  Peter Pettengill; editioned at Wingate Studio
FRAMING - Currently archivally framed as a set of 6 in matching 22 Karat gold leaf frames.

CONDI TION -  Very good. Please inquire for full condition report

$3,950.00 EACH

23,700.00/ Set of Six