Human Beings

Date:: 1953
Medium:: Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Dimensions:: 53.8 × 41.9 cm
Edition:: Self-printed
Source:: Art Institute of Chicago

Typical Price

$500–$4,000. Common prints: $500–$1,500. Key value factors: Yamaguchi's contemplative, semi-abstract style has a niche following. Condition and impression quality are key factors.

Description

Human Beings, a woodblock print from 1953, is a plural meditation on the same subject as "Human Being," the shift to the plural opening compositional possibilities for depicting relationship, community, and the social dimension of human existence. Multiple human figures in abstract woodblock may appear as repeated forms in dialogue, as overlapping shapes suggesting crowded togetherness, or as distinct entities maintaining the space between them. The 1953 date places this in the early postwar period when questions about human nature and social organization carried particular urgency.