<b>FULL MOON ON THE 15TH NIGHT</b> / Unichi Hiratsuka1957<b>SOLD</b></em>

Details

The moon on the 15th Night is considered one of Hiratsuka Unichi’s masterpieces. Hiratsuka is quoted by Merritt in her book on the artist, “this is from a sketch that I made on a bus on the way to Shimoda from Ito, on the Izu Peninsula. It is a symphony of blocks of black-and-white curves. I have never again seen such a magnificent moon.”

Indeed, the interplay of the masterfully fashioned single printing block with the natural white tone of the paper creates a scene that is lyrical and profound. One can easily see why this work is held in such high regard and why Hiratsuka is known as the master of black and white.

Connoisseur's Note

This large and relatively early period work is not commonly seen in the market. The print was produced in a limited edition of 30 impressions, and the artist is not known to have completed the full edition runs of his larger scale pieces, such as this design, from this period. Further, due to the large size of the work, the original printing block was not brought to the United States when the artist moved to the DC area in the 1960s, as such, no later post-Japanese impressions are known.