Created in drypoint and etching, this work isolates a single symbolic object—a shoe belonging to an angel—as a vehicle for metaphysical reflection. Ikeda frequently employed intaglio techniques with great subtlety, using drypoint's characteristic burr to build soft, velvety lines that contrast with the clean incisions of etching. A discarded or abandoned shoe carries connotations of departure, transformation, and the boundary between earthly and celestial realms. Reducing a divine figure to a single garment invites the viewer to construct the absent body through imagination—a strategy consistent with Ikeda's interest in symbolic economy and the evocative power of partial or indirect representation.
Kamakura Daibutsu
1930
Color woodblock print
1950
Color woodblock print
大仏
Woodblock print
1926
Color woodblock print; oban
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Angel's Shoe was created by Masuo Ikeda (池田満寿夫).
Angel's Shoe uses Etching, on drypoint and etching.
Angel's Shoe depicts religious.
Angel's Shoe measures 36.1 × 46.2 cm.
