Summer
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- wbp
Typical Price
Key value factors: As self-carved and self-printed works, sosaku-hanga value is tied to the artist's reputation and edition size. Larger formats, earlier editions, and historically significant works command the highest prices.
- Common examples: $100–$500
- Good impressions: $500–$2,000
- Premium/scarce: $2,000–$10,000
Description
Summer is a woodblock print that engages with the most intense of Japan's seasons, when heat and humidity transform daily life. Maeda Toshiro's depiction likely involves the visual cues that mark summer in Japanese art: verdant foliage at its deepest green, bright sunlight casting hard shadows, or figures coping with the heat through fans, light clothing, or proximity to water. The woodblock medium's flat color areas can convey the bleaching effect of summer sun, while the registered layers build the season's rich, saturated greens. Summer in Japan is also the season of festivals, fireworks, and cicadas, any of which could provide this print's specific subject.
