$400–$3,000. Common subjects: $400–$1,000. Key value factors: Okuyama's prints are relatively affordable. Bold, well-preserved examples are most valued.
"Sakura" presents the cherry blossoms in full bloom — Japan's most celebrated natural spectacle and perhaps the most painted subject in all of Japanese art — through Okuyama's personal sosaku-hanga vision. Where the great tradition of sakura imagery stretched from Heian court poetry to Hiroshige's woodblock prints, Okuyama's version would have asserted his individual observation against this accumulated tradition: a specific tree, at a specific time of day, under specific conditions of light and wind. The sakura subject demanded both homage to tradition and the personal freshness that sosaku-hanga required.
Kumoi sakura
1926
Color woodblock print
1935
Color woodblock print
Romon
1935
Color woodblock print
円山公園桜
Woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Sakura was created by Gihachiro Okuyama (奥山儀八郎).
Sakura depicts cherry blossoms.
