A Stream
- Date:
- 1954
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Edition:
- Self-printed
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
$500–$4,000. Common prints: $500–$1,500. Key value factors: Sasajima's meditative prints appeal to collectors of both Japanese prints and modern art.
This 1954 woodblock print depicts a stream, a subject Sasajima returned to repeatedly throughout his career. Moving water presented a particular challenge for the woodblock medium, which excels at rendering solid forms but must find graphic equivalents for transparency, reflection, and flow. Sasajima addresses this by translating the stream into patterns of line and tone that suggest the water's movement without attempting photographic naturalism. The print reflects Sasajima's engagement with the natural world as a source of spiritual contemplation, consistent with the Buddhist sensibility that informed much of his work. Water in Buddhist thought carries associations with impermanence and purification, and Sasajima's streams often function as meditative subjects rather than mere landscape features.
Nikko Chuzenjiko
1930
Color woodblock print; oban
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Niigata Gosaibori
1921
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
A Stream was created by Kihei Sasajima (笹島喜平) in 1954.
A Stream depicts rivers & lakes.
