<b>A LAMP</b>Yoshio Nagase1920$1,500</em>

Details

This design was produced by the sosaku hanga artist Nagase Yoshio. Nagase was among the first group of self-directed Japanese print artists. This design, A Light (1920s), was produced before Nagase traveled to Europe and belongs to a cohesive body of work that explores the female form and an exploration of light. This design, like the others, was produced on black dyed washi and printed with a gold pigment. The printing technique is paramount in these compositions, as the sense of light within the composition comes from the pigment thickness and skillful means of its application. Nagase presents the viewer with a nude of great subtlety—the image is soft and appears supple with a psychological depth seldom seen in prints of this subject from this period in Japanese printmaking.

Connoisseur's Note

Nagase’s early work is exceedingly rare. As with all sosaku hanga produced at this time, the limited means of production was a direct consequence of the limited market for such creative, self-directed work. Prints produced at this time were executed for a coterie of patrons or connoisseurs. As such, only a handful of impressions of this design survive in private hands.