$2,000–$15,000+. Common subjects: $2,000–$5,000. Key value factors: As the founder of sosaku-hanga, Yamamoto's prints carry great historical significance. His earliest works are the most valued.
This 1915 woodblock print renders a cow with the bold simplification that marked Yamamoto's mature style. The animal is presented without narrative context or pastoral idealization, treated instead as a study in form, mass, and the textural possibilities of carved wood. Yamamoto's willingness to make a single cow the sole subject of a print reflects the [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) principle that any subject, however humble, merits serious artistic attention when the artist engages it honestly. The carving translates the animal's bulk into flat planes and strong contours, finding visual interest in the way light falls across hide and muscle. The print anticipates the folk-art sensibility that would later characterize the mingei movement, with which Yamamoto had philosophical sympathies.
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.
Cow was created by Kanae Yamamoto (山本鼎) in 1915.
Cow depicts animals.
