Atomic Bomb Ruins (Hiroshima), second impression

A second documented impression of Asai Kiyoshi's Atomic Bomb Ruins (Hiroshima), made from the same block as the artist's better-known impression of the subject. The Japanese title 原爆の跡(廣島) (Gembaku no ato, Hiroshima) — 'Traces of the Atomic Bomb (Hiroshima)' — is inked at the top margin along with the date of the bombing. The image again presents the skeletal remains of the former Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall (the Genbaku Dome), reduced to a cage of exposed iron against a dense black sky, but the second impression shows subtle differences in inking pressure and edge of the cut: the carving has been printed slightly drier, which sharpens the line of the dome's frame against the ground. Like the first impression, the block carries Asai's carved signature 'K. Asai' and the small impressed seals 'Asai' and 'Kiyoshi' at the lower margin. Both impressions are believed to derive from an edition of only six prints. The existence of a second authenticated impression is unusual for a print of this scarcity and offers a rare opportunity to study the technical reading of an artist whose post-war Hiroshima studio is otherwise documented mostly through period photography rather than surviving sheets.