A study of a black cat rendered in mokuhanga, departing from the landscape subjects that occupied much of Maeda's printmaking. The single-color subject requires careful key-block carving to define the contour of the animal against the surrounding ground, with any sense of fur, ear, or whisker established through line rather than tonal modulation. Small-format animal subjects like this fit within the [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) workshop practice Maeda followed when he carved and printed his own blocks: the artist controlled every stage from drawing through impression, allowing intimate subjects to be produced economically without engaging professional carvers. Cats appear across both [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) and sosaku-hanga catalogs of the mid-twentieth century, treated by Hashiguchi Goyo, Shotei Takahashi, and others, but the sosaku-hanga handling tends to emphasize the surface qualities of the [washi](/glossary/washi) and the trace of the [baren](/glossary/baren) rather than illusionistic detail.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Black cat was created by Maeda Masao (前田政雄).
Black cat depicts cats.
