<b>WINTER AT LAKE AOKI</b> / Susumu Yamaguchi1941<B>SOLD</B></em>

Details

The heart-shaped Lake Aoki, or “blue tree” lake on the south end of the Hakuba Valley in Nagano prefecture, is one of the cleanest lakes in all of Japan. The clear blue water is fed by natural springs, rain, and snow melt coming down from Japan’s northern Alps. Countless pictures have been taken of the incredible reflection of the Japanese Alps on the surface of the mirror-like lake.

In anticipation of all those photos, Yamaguchi provides the viewer with an early view of how it’s done. The stunning composition showcases the mountain range clad in snow across the lake, while the viewer is situated on the other side of the pristine blue water. Yamaguchi elects to showcase the quiet scene with a very active printing style. The blue water contains deconstructed reflections of the mountain range in green, brown, and white that suggest the busy winter wind across the water as well as the hand of the artist at work. Yamaguchi was a devotee of Onchi and adopted his spontaneous-wet-like printing style. Onchi advocated for artists to imbue an emotional element into their work. Clearly, the stunning view of this lake affected Yamaguchi. Perhaps this active printing style suggests his excitement at such a vista.

Connoisseur's Note

This early impression has the artist’s signature in ink at the lower right, not often seen. The work is printed on pre-war paper that is not as thick as the paper used to reprint the design in the early 1950s. The print bears the inventory tag of Oliver Statler, an early Sosaku Hanga collector who was introduced to Sosaku Hanga during his stay in post-war occupied Japan. Statler met all the Sosaku Hanga artists and documented their work in his seminal reference on the subject: Modern Japanese Prints.

This impression is in a fine state of preservation with exceedingly sharp and vivid colors and in overall excellent condition.