Unknown Monument (C)

Titled "Unknown Monument," this woodblock print by Hideo Hagiwara references built structure through abstraction. The word "monument" suggests Hagiwara was responding to architecture or sculpture, filtering a three-dimensional subject through his signature vocabulary of carved planes and layered ink. Held by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, this print belongs to a subset of Hagiwara's output in which real-world subjects provided the initial impetus for an abstract composition. The "(C)" designation likely indicates this is the third version or state in a series exploring the same monumental form. Hagiwara often returned to subjects repeatedly, and the serial approach allowed him to investigate how varying the color relationships, block registration, and printing pressure could transform a single compositional structure into distinct visual statements.