Key value factors: As self-carved and self-printed works, sosaku-hanga value is tied to the artist's reputation and edition size. Larger formats, earlier editions, and historically significant works command the highest prices.
A composition focusing on fishing baskets (kago or mise) — the woven implements of traditional Japanese fishing practice, themselves objects of considerable craftsmanship whose design varied by region and fishing method. Aoyama Masaharu's interest in the material culture of traditional Japanese life — the tools, structures, and practices of a world being rapidly transformed by postwar modernization — aligns with the documentary impulse in his broader [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) practice. The fishing basket as a compositional subject emphasizes craft and tradition over the drama of the fish or the picturesque appeal of the water, making it a more unusual and considered choice.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Fishing Baskets was created by Aoyama Masaharu (青山正治) in c. 1950-60s.
Fishing Baskets depicts still life, craftspeople, and daily life.
