[Audio Guide]
Kano Mitsuo is known for his experimental approach to printmaking. His early works brim with enigmatic entities that evoke both insects and fragments of plants, for which he is thought to have been inspired by the world under the microscope that he encountered in his teens when assisting a botanist. His elaborate yet unidentifiable depictions can be seen as metamorphoses of various natural forms, including not only plant and animal life but also elements from astronomy, meteorology, oceanography, and metallurgy. The technique Kano employed is known as intaglio, an Italian term for printmaking that involves engraving a design into a surface and creating grooves for the ink. Beginning in the late 1950s, Kano produced numerous series using intaglio, including Phosphorus and Flower and Star: Rumination.
