Temple in snow
- Date:
- mid 20th century
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Dimensions:
- 40 × 33 cm
- Source:
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
Snow and night scenes traditionally command higher prices. 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.
A temple stands amid falling or accumulated snow in this mid-twentieth-century woodblock print, the architectural structure partially veiled by winter weather. Inagaki renders the scene with the simplified forms typical of his work, reducing the temple to its essential geometric elements: rooflines, columns, and the surrounding trees, all softened by the presence of snow. Snow transforms familiar landscapes by erasing detail and unifying surfaces under a white layer, and the woodblock medium can exploit this by leaving areas of paper unprinted to represent snow cover. The combination of sacred architecture and winter quiet creates a mood of contemplative stillness that has been a recurring subject in Japanese printmaking since the Edo period.
Woodblock print
c. 1832/38
Color woodblock print; oban
Yuki no Miyajima
1929
Color woodblock print; oban
1932
Woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Temple in snow was created by Inagaki Toshijiro (稲垣稔次郎) in mid 20th century.
Temple in snow depicts snow scenes and temples & shrines.
Temple in snow measures 40 × 33 cm.
