Water Lily
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
Typical Price
Key value factors: As self-carved and self-printed works, sosaku-hanga value is tied to the artist's reputation and edition size. Larger formats, earlier editions, and historically significant works command the highest prices.
- Common examples: $100–$500
- Good impressions: $500–$2,000
- Premium/scarce: $2,000–$10,000
Description
Water lilies (suiren) float on the still surface of a pond or basin, their round leaves providing a compositional foil for the rising blooms. The water lily subject in Japanese decorative art carried associations with Buddhism — lotus flowers and water lilies shared symbolic territory in Buddhist iconography — as well as with the specific pleasure of the ornamental pond garden. Hodo's rendering likely uses the reflective surface of the water as a compositional element, the lily floating between the real bloom above and its reflected image below.
