Key value factors: For living or recently deceased artists, limited edition size and gallery representation drive value. Signed and numbered prints from smaller editions are most desirable.
Created around 1989, this woodblock print titled "Early Summer" represents another of Funasaka's infrequent departures from purely numerical titling toward seasonal or natural subjects. Early summer in Japan, known as shoka, marks the brief period between the end of spring rains and the onset of the humid, heavy heat of full summer. The light and air of this transitional season have a particular freshness that Funasaka translates into geometric terms, likely through a palette that favors the bright greens and clear blues associated with early June. The composition abstracts the sensory experience of the season into arrangements of color and form that evoke warmth, growth, and expanding daylight without depicting any recognizable natural element. The woodblock print format grounds this abstraction in the physicality of carved wood and applied pigment.
広隆寺牛祭
Woodblock print
二月 (伏見稲荷大社祭)
second half 20th century
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
七月 (祇園祭山鉾巡行)
second half 20th century
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
八月 (三条大橋より大文字)
second half 20th century
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Early Summer was created by Yoshisuke Funasaka (舩坂芳助) in Not dated (1989).
Early Summer depicts summer.
