No 4

The fourth work in a numbered series by Keiichi Takasawa, this print continues the formal investigation established in the preceding sheets of the sequence. As a sosaku-hanga artist working in full control of design, carving, and printing, Takasawa could maintain precise consistency of scale, paper, and printing method across a series while developing distinct compositional configurations in each work. Numbered series in the sosaku-hanga tradition frequently follow a logic of visual variation: a shared structural or chromatic premise is established in earlier prints and elaborated or resolved in later ones. The oban or smaller-format sheet would show characteristic woodblock qualities—registration between color layers, the surface texture produced by baren pressure against washi, and the absorbent warmth of Japanese paper receiving water-based ink. Within the sequence, "No 4" likely represents a further development of the formal framework rather than a departure, its relationship to companion prints forming part of its meaning as an object.