preservation spitzack woodblock woodcut mokuhanga print printmaking washi seattle art

This woodblock print by Charles Spitzack renders a stark black-and-cream composition: a black silhouette resolving into a human profile (head facing left, with fine linear striations suggesting hair) on the left side, and a scalloped, feather- or wing-like black form on the right, separated by a pale, unprinted hourglass-shaped space crossed by two diagonal lines meeting at a central point. The black ink fades into a soft gradient toward the cream washi paper at the print's outer edges, while the top and bottom bands remain solid black. The sheet is pencil-inscribed below the image "'Preservation II' 1/15 2022" with the artist's signature, Charles Spitzack, to the right.