Face No.3

This second impression or variant of Face No.3 reflects Kinoshita Tomio's practice of returning to a numbered face composition across distinct printings, a working method consistent with sosaku-hanga's emphasis on the individual print as artist-made object rather than reproductive copy. Differences between impressions might appear in the inking density of the key block, the substitution or omission of a color block, or the registration of secondary tones, each variation altering the psychological weight of the carved countenance. The image likely retains the frontal, mask-like presentation typical of his Face series—broad graphic shapes, carved contours, and a restricted palette pulled across washi by baren. Kinoshita's commitment to jiga, jikoku, jizuri ensured that every state of the print bore his hand at every stage. Such serial variation places this work within the same constellation as the prints that brought him the Japan Print Association Award (1958) and Kokuga Award (1960), and that travelled to the Tokyo International Print Biennale and venues in Europe and the United States.