Constellation 73-7, Shôwa period,
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Harvard Art Museum
- Image courtesy of
- Harvard Art Museum
Description
The seventh print in the 1973 Constellation series continues Kitaoka's investigation of scattered form against open ground. Within the series, individual numbers likely correspond to distinct arrangements of marks or shifts in the color palette, allowing compositional comparison across variants. This print may introduce a denser clustering of elements or a darker tonal register than earlier numbers. Kitaoka's carving technique in abstract works often involved deliberate retention of wood grain texture, which reads as atmospheric interference or spatial depth. The use of washi, with its soft absorbency, would allow printed marks to bleed slightly at their edges, softening what might otherwise be hard-edged geometric forms.
More Prints by Fumio Kitaoka
More Night Scenes Prints
Evening in East Africa
Woodblock print
Evening Shower at Teradomari (Teradomari no yau), from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, Second Series (Tabi miyage dai nishu)"
Teradomari no yau
1921
Color woodblock print; oban
![Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)" by Kawase Hasui](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/d0960668-1e73-339a-b182-fb995a54bff0/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)"
1947
Color woodblock print; oban
Evening Moon at Nakanoshima, Sapporo (Sapporo Nakanoshima no yuzuki), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition (Nihon fukei shu higashi Nihon hen)"
March 1933
Color woodblock print; oban
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Constellation 73-7, Shôwa period, was created by Fumio Kitaoka (北岡文雄).
Constellation 73-7, Shôwa period, depicts night scenes and abstract.