The Home Coming
by Bertha Lum
- Date:
- 1905
- Medium:
- Color woodcut on Japan paper, impression from yellow block
- Dimensions:
- 23.2 × 8.4 cm
- Source:
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
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.
This 1905 color woodcut on Japan paper preserves a single color impression from the yellow block used in printing "The Home Coming." In traditional Japanese woodblock printing, the final image is built up through successive impressions from multiple carved blocks, each carrying a different color. This impression isolates one layer of that process, revealing the contribution of the yellow block to the overall composition. Such single-block impressions are valuable for understanding the printmaker's working method — which areas receive which colors, how colors overlap and interact, how the carver distributes visual weight across separate blocks. For Lum, who cut her own blocks, this impression documents her personal decisions about color separation and layering strategy.
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
The Home Coming was created by Bertha Lum in 1905.
The Home Coming depicts landscapes and figures.
The Home Coming measures 23.2 × 8.4 cm.
