<b>WINTER GRASS</b> / Fumio Kitaoka1958<b>SOLD</b></em>

Details

Like so many sosaku hanga artists, Kitaoka learned the art of woodblock printmaking from Un’ichi Hiratsuka. Kitaoka was an active member of Onchi’s circle and was recognized for his prints after the resolution of the war when a foreign market opened for his work. Kitaoka was long acknowledged for his strong eye for design as well as his profound talent for woodblock carving. This striking print best exemplifies Kitaoka’s immense talent for both aspects of print production. The design reveals a complex and thought-provoking array of late fall flowers and foliage that have been dried to preserve their delicate and intricate structures. In this arrangement, the artist highlights their fragile forms in a striking composition that showcases Kitaoka’s agility with woodblock caring. The carving is so astonishing it almost appears as if the forms were impressed directly onto the paper. The entire composition is touched by the artist’s carving knife, and he builds upon the intricate design with simple but compelling pigmentation, highlighting the composition with three colors in varying intensities of saturation, which provide the design with a surprising sense of depth.

Connoisseur's Note

This relatively early design was completed in 1958. The print is a self-printed impression, as the work predates the establishment of his production studio, which began printing the artist’s designs in the 1960s.