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Kyoto and Nagasaki
Kyoto and Nagasaki
1977
Kyoto and Nagasaki is a canvas pair created in 1977 by Brian Clarke. The canvases feature Clarke’s early stripe motif in black and yellow, developed in the 1970s and also employed in selected panels from the 1976 to 1979 Queen’s Medical Centre Chapel commission, as well as in the 1977 'Dangerous Visions' series.
The canvases also incorporate abstract elements: one features a blue formation, while the other presents areas that evoke scorched or burned surfaces. These elements reflect Clarke’s engagement with the work of German artist and stained glass designer Johannes Schreiter, and in particular with the original technique that Schreiter developed for his 'Brandcollages.'
Clarke described Schreiter’s technique in his own words:
“The 'Brandcollage' or roughly translated, burnt collage (you may never have guessed) is a method of producing intricate and very subtle areas of activity in designs by burning under a gentil flame, small pieces of paper until they begin to discolour and transform their appearance. Schreiter, with great care uses the brittle fragments of burnt paper to constitute the areas of activity within some of his designs and gradually developed into papier collage these drawings form the basis for much of his work including glass design, paintings, and prints. [...] he produces whole compositions around these areas of activity contrasting passivity with movement and occasionally disturbing areas of quiet with sudden quotes from the brandcollage.”