Place of Light
by Gen Yamanaka
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Image courtesy of
- The Verne Collection
Description
Place of Light inverts the conventional relationship in Yamanaka's nocturnal work by centering a specific luminous source within an otherwise dark field. The composition likely isolates a single concentrated area of illumination — perhaps a lit window, a lantern, or a reflected pool — surrounded by graduated darkness printed through multiple woodblock impressions. The print engages a long lineage of light-source subjects in Japanese printmaking, from the lamplight interiors of Utamaro to the modernist nocturnes of Hasui, while Yamanaka's treatment remains distinctly contemporary in its reduction of atmospheric detail to tonal essentials.
More Prints by Gen Yamanaka
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
Frequently Asked Questions
Place of Light was created by Gen Yamanaka (山中現).
Place of Light depicts night scenes.