Hanga
Girl With bird by Maekawa Senpan — Japanese Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)

Girl With bird

by Maekawa Senpan

Medium:
Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)
Image courtesy of
Saru Gallery

Description

This second version of Girl with Bird represents a state, variant, or related composition on the same theme, a common occurrence in Senpan's self-printed practice where small editions and reworkings produced multiple closely related impressions. Differences from the first version may appear in the color register, the cropping, the position of the bird, or the balance of printed and unprinted areas of washi. Such variants reflect the working conditions of sosaku-hanga: with the artist carving and printing personally, each pulled image carried the marks of decisions made at the press rather than the standardized output of a publisher's workshop. The composition likely retains the spare ground, the centered child, and the small bird that draws the figure's attention, rendered in the flat planes of muted color and hand-carved line characteristic of Senpan's mature work. As with related prints in the group, the subject treats childhood with directness rather than sentiment. The variant reinforces Senpan's continued return to the quiet meeting of child and animal as material for the modern Japanese print.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Girl With bird was created by Maekawa Senpan (前川千帆).

Girl With bird depicts birds & flowers and children.