$500–$4,000. Common subjects: $500–$1,500. Key value factors: Kawano's early death at 49 limits her output. Her dreamlike figure prints are most sought after.
A stone memorial marker — ishibumi — stands in a landscape, its weathered surface bearing inscribed characters that record a life or an event now half-forgotten. Kawano's Tombstone is a meditation on memory, impermanence, and the attempt of human beings to mark their passage through time in durable material. The carved stone and the carved woodblock find an unexpected kinship here — both are acts of inscription meant to outlast the hand that made them. The 20th-century dating places this work in the period of Japan's most intense engagement with questions of memory and loss.
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Tombstone (Ishibumi) was created by Kaoru Kawano (川野薫) in 20th century.
Tombstone (Ishibumi) depicts landscapes, religious, and calligraphy.
