Kumi Sugai, Red, 1956, colour lithograph; recipient of the International Jury Prize, 4th International Exhibition of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, 1961.
Photo: Jaka Babnik. MGLC Archive.
The exhibition included fifteen colour lithographs made between 1957 and 1962. The artist made his first colour lithograph (Devil) in 1954 and, only eight years later, he was already considered a master of this technique. Japanese calligraphy served as a basis for the development of his characteristic sign language, which lithography, previously unknown in his country, is especially suited to. Often, the only motif of his paintings and prints is a single letter whose placement and colour manipulation made it almost anthropomorphic.