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.
Wind and rain conspire in this 1912 color woodcut to create conditions of atmospheric turbulence that test both the figures within the scene and the printmaker depicting them. The combination of weather elements introduces dynamic diagonal forces — wind bending trees and pushing figures sideways, rain driving at angles rather than falling straight — that energize the composition. Lum carved these forces into her blocks as directional lines and distorted forms, translating meteorological energy into the static medium of the print. The result captures a moment of weather with an immediacy unusual in woodblock work, which tends toward stillness and contemplation. Wind and rain together invoke the Japanese aesthetic concept of fuugetsu (wind and moon), though here the wild rather than the serene aspects of nature take precedence.
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.
Wind and Rain was created by Bertha Lum in 1912.
Wind and Rain depicts rain.
Wind and Rain measures 24.9 × 38.3 cm.
