Single block print, two tigers
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- wbp
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.
Two tigers occupy the composition of this single-block woodblock print, their powerful bodies and striped pelts rendered entirely through carved lines and a single ink application. Tigers have a long history in East Asian art despite being absent from the Japanese archipelago, entering the visual vocabulary through Chinese and Korean artistic traditions and through Buddhist symbolism. Inagaki depicts two animals rather than the more common solitary tiger, introducing a relational dynamic: the pair may be resting, confronting each other, or moving in parallel. The single-block technique transforms the tiger's stripes into a printmaking asset, as the naturally patterned fur translates directly into the carved-line vocabulary of the medium.
Hebizukai
1932
Color woodblock print; oban
1935
Color woodblock print; oban
1964
Acrylic paint and oil pastel with oiled charcoal and ink over an ink and graphite underdrawing on paper
1964
Color lithograph with relief block and hand coloring; edition 35/36
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Single block print, two tigers was created by Inagaki Toshijiro (稲垣稔次郎).
Single block print, two tigers depicts animals and abstract.
