Grove of Assorted Trees A

"Grove of Assorted Trees A" announces its subject with documentary directness: not a monoculture of birch or pine but a mixed forest of varied species, each with its characteristic silhouette and texture. The "A" designation places this print at the beginning of what appears to be a series of compositional variants. Kitaoka uses the variety of tree forms — the wide-spreading crown of the oak against the pointed spire of the cedar, the lacy tracery of the birch against the broader leaf of the beech — to create a richer, more complex formal counterpoint than a single-species composition would allow.