by Bertha Lum
$1,000–$8,000. Common subjects: $1,000–$2,500. Key value factors: Bertha Lum's status as a pioneering Western woodblock printmaker gives her work historical value. Her Art Nouveau-influenced prints are particularly sought after.
Rain falls across this 1912 color woodcut, a subject that Japanese printmakers have treated as one of the great technical and poetic challenges of the medium. From Hiroshige's iconic rain at Ohashi Bridge to Hasui's modern interpretations, depicting falling water through carved wooden blocks requires ingenuity — the lines of rain must be either carved away (printing the surrounding area and leaving rain as bare paper) or carved in relief and printed as fine parallel lines. Lum, working within this tradition, brings her own solution to the problem. The mood of a rainy day — the way it flattens distances, mutes colors, and drives people under cover — gives the print an introspective quality distinct from her sunlit or nocturnal subjects.
1962
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
c. 1833-36
Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Ame no Omiya
1930
Color woodblock print; oban
Teradomari no yau
1921
Color woodblock print; oban
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Rain was created by Bertha Lum in 1912.
Rain depicts rain.
Rain measures 28.1 × 15.9 cm.
