Dahlias

Dahlias (daria) rendered in Hodo's woodblock technique — the late-summer and autumn flower that was introduced to Japan from Mexico in the early nineteenth century and quickly became a beloved garden flower cultivated in dramatic varieties. The dahlia's complex, geometric petal structure offered printmakers a compositional challenge distinct from the more familiar blooms of the Japanese floral tradition, and its rich colors — crimson, orange, purple, and white — provided opportunities for the layered color printing of shin-hanga work.