Fishing Village - Gyoson
by Joshua Rome
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Source:
- Japanese Art Open Database
by Joshua Rome
$1,500–$6,000. Fish prints are among this artist's most collected works. Standard prints: $2,500–$4,000. Key value factors: Rome's contemplative abstract prints bridge Eastern and Western aesthetics. Limited editions hold value.
A fishing village, identified by the Japanese word gyoson, is the subject of this oban mokuhanga print. Joshua Rome evokes the clustered structures and maritime setting of a coastal settlement through layered water-based pigments rather than architectural detail, allowing the mokuhanga medium's soft edges and transparent color accumulation to suggest the weathered textures of a working village. Japan's fishing villages, many of them tucked into small coves along rocky coastlines, possess a visual character shaped by proximity to the sea: salt-worn wood, nets, and boat hulls create a palette of grays, browns, and blues that Rome's muted color choices echo. As an American artist working within Japanese printmaking traditions, Rome brings an outsider's eye to a subject deeply embedded in Japanese coastal culture, finding abstraction in forms that locals might take for granted.
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
Fishing Village - Gyoson was created by Joshua Rome.
Fishing Village - Gyoson depicts animals and village scenes.
