Aiko Miyawaki by Miyawaki Aiko. Introduction, "An Eternal Dream" by Enrico Navarra. Essays: "Calligraphic Lines" by Kate Linker, "Aiko Miyawaki, Art and Thought" by Alexandra Munroe, "The Long Road to the Milky Way" by Sahoko Tsuji - 1996

Offering: A rare signed presentation with a light-in-sky sketch, expressive of this reticent, intensely feeling artist. It is executed on the black front endpaper in silver ink and signed Aiko with her characteristic, sideways arcing, open 'A'. "I wish to create a thing that has shed the weight of sculpture and is as free as a bird in flight. I first made a drawing that was like lines sketched in the air, to express a spirit that was unfettered, what the Chinese call ch'i." [Aiko Miyawaki] The monograph is the primary documentation for Aiko Miyawaki's chief early work, the Utsurohi (swift change) series, erected 1984-1995 at twenty three sites in France, Japan, Spain, and the United States. The Utsurohi installations, with their sensitivity to seasonal patterns of light, are open form sculptures made from chromed stainless steel, suspension bridge wire, footed into bases and set into arcing and looping forms. The monograph is profusely illustrated with details provided for the 1979-1981 prototypes and a double-page color photograph documenting each completed work and the Munroe and Linker essays are printed for the first time. Condition: Pages: clean and bright, slight bump at head of gutter, front endpaper with some spotting from pen & ink presentation / Wrappers: clean, slight wear, principally to edges, upper side with acetate rubbed at top edge, light indentations, a light top tip bump, lower side with slight rubs, two corners slightly bumped, slight wear to top tip / Binding: solid and reliable with front hinge splitting at crown. Pagination: Complete; 112 pages with 141 reproductions, primarily color, 4 full-page + a suite of 27 double-page, 23 documenting in chronological order the Utsurohi installations, including two with details at Le Muy, and two documenting the exhibition at the Kanagawa Prefectural Hall Gallery, Yokohama. Illustrations in Text: There are also 19 color reproductions in text and an extensive thumbnail section with 91 captioned photos (63 color, 28 b/w), including a double-page spread displaying the Utsurohi series, various gallery installations, and additional works and portraits of Miyawaki, chiefly with kindred artists including, Man Ray, (a mentor), Arata Isozaki, (her husband and collaborator), Max Ernst, Luciano Fabro, Piotr Kowalski, Richard Lindner, Roberto Matta, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Hans Richter, Henry Stazewski, Saul Steinberg, Andrzej Wajda, and Terry Winters. Format: Publisher's sewn, illustrated wrappers, reinforced with fold-over flaps. The color photograph on the wrapper sides and spine shows the 1994 Utsurohi landscape installation in Le Muy (at the home of the publisher, Enrico Navarra). Size: 290 x 250 mm (11.42 x 9.84 inches). Publishing Note: Principal photography is by Shigeo Anzai, a friend of the artist highly skilled at documenting her work. Other photographs are by the prominent architectural photographers, Yoshio Takase and Shuji Yamada with additional photography by Satoko Matsuda and Jun Takita. Previous documentation for the Utsurohi series was published in 1990. Much of the series dates from 1989-1994 with eleven works from 1994. It was continued, principally in 2004. Additional Images: by request.