Kenro Izu (Japanese, b. 1949)
Blue #1010B, 2004
platinum palladium print with cyanotype
29.25″ x 23.5″
Gift of Dr. J. Patrick and Patricia Kennedy, 2017.79
Inspired by Pablo Picasso’s Blue Period paintings, and Japanese novelist Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s essay, “Praise of Shadows,” Izu became interested in using cyanotype prints to create a deep, rich blue. In order to achieve this deepest blue effect, Izu created a unique process in which he prints multiple layers of cyanotype over a platinum print onto watercolor paper. The female nude becomes an abstracted form as her body grows out of shadow. Izu’s Blue series follows the tradition of pictorialist photographers who focused on the beauty and composition of a photograph as opposed to its documentation of reality.