by Ito Takashi
$500–$5,000. Snow and night scenes tend to command premium prices for this artist. Key value factors: Ito Takashi's prints published by Doi Hangaten are the most sought after. Night scenes and snow views command premiums.
A winter day with heavy snowfall is the subject of this oban woodblock print. Ito Takashi fills the composition with falling snow that obscures the middle distance and softens every edge in the scene. Buildings, trees, or figures become silhouettes and suggestions beneath the accumulating white, their specific identities secondary to the all-encompassing condition of the snowfall itself. The woodblock technique achieves the falling snow effect through a combination of overprinting white or leaving paper reserve against darker background tones printed in earlier passes. Among Ito's many snow subjects, this print emphasizes the active process of snowing rather than the static result of snow already fallen, capturing the reduced visibility and hushed atmosphere of a day when weather dominates every aspect of the visible world.
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.
Snowy Day was created by Ito Takashi (伊東孝).
Snowy Day depicts snow scenes.
