Unai no tomo (Book of Toys) : [volume 10]

Nishizawa, Tekiho, 1889-1965, Shimizu, Seifū, 1851-1913 · 1924 · Kyoto : Yamada Unsōdō 山田芸艸堂 · 24 pictures

Unai no tomo (Book of Toys), volume 10, was published in Kyoto in 1924 by Yamada Unsōdō, with designs by Nishizawa Tekiho and Shimizu Seifū, as a pattern book of Japanese handmade toys for makers and young readers. The pictures show flat, hand-coloured woodblock-style toy animals in bold, simplified shapes, with a limited palette of brown, black, yellow, orange and pale blue, and they suggest how a designer might reduce a figure to a few strong colour fields and cut-out silhouettes.

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