Cat Making Up

This sketch and final print illustrate the artist’s working method. First, Inagaki Tomoo made a sketch in pencil that he later drew over in ink. He then laid the sketch face down on a wet block and rubbed it from the back to transfer the ink to the block, which he used as a guide for carving. Some of the ink outlines in the sketch have transferred onto the finished print, while other lines have been carved into the wood and therefore carry no color on the paper, as is the case with the contour of the cat’s leg.
Inagaki’s affection for geometric forms is apparent in this print, which has the quality of a stained-glass window. The print collector Oliver Statler, who knew the artist well, has written that there is only one cat in the print—the two heads represent the movement of the bathing cat.