<b>YOMEIMON GATE IN SNOW</b> / Takahashi Hiroaki (Shotei)1929<b>SOLD</b></em>

Details

In this dramatic and beautiful design, Hiroaki provides the viewer with a picturesque scene of Yomeimon Gate in snow. The composition is oriented in a traditional Japanese aerial perspective. The scene initiates with steep steps building up as they ascend into a gilded shrine—all the while, accumulating snow advances throughout, finding and filling virtually every space within the composition.

Hiroaki takes full advantage of the astonishing effects woodblock prints are so apt at providing, as the recognizable woodgrain in the background transmits a stunning atmospheric effect. Of particular note is the astonishing use of bokashi, or color gradation, throughout the design, which is most pronounced in the gray and blue portions of the sky and within the areas of snow.

Connoisseur's Note

Yomeimon Gate is one of a handful of designs Hiroki produced with the publisher Fusui Gabo. Some of his most desirable works were executed in this collaboration. This particular impression is a first edition with the limitation stamp of 300 on the reverse.