Black horses
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Edition:
- Self-printed
- Source:
- Japanese Art Open Database
Description
Two or more horses rendered in stark black move across the composition with the concentrated energy of animals in full life. Kitaoka strips the figures of setting and detail, leaving pure animal form: the muscular curve of haunch and shoulder, the thick arc of neck, the massed weight of multiple bodies pressing together or apart. The black-on-pale contrast is visually decisive, the horses' dark forms reading with immediate graphic force. It is a subject that allowed Kitaoka to explore movement and mass without the mediation of landscape or narrative.
More Prints by Fumio Kitaoka
More Animals Prints
Snake Charmers (Hebizukai)
Hebizukai
1932
Color woodblock print; oban
Hoshifuri Pine at Zen'yoji Temple in Edogawa (Edogawa-ku Zen'yoji Hoshifuri matsu), from the series "One Hundred Views of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era (Showa dai Tokyo fukei hyaku zue hanga)"
1935
Color woodblock print; oban
Drawing for Rabbit and Boy
1964
Acrylic paint and oil pastel with oiled charcoal and ink over an ink and graphite underdrawing on paper
Rabbit and Boy
1964
Color lithograph with relief block and hand coloring; edition 35/36
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Black horses was created by Fumio Kitaoka (北岡文雄).
Black horses depicts animals and abstract.