Woman
- Date:
- 1957
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print; edition 14/20
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
Beauty subjects are especially sought after in this category. 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.
Woman, a 1957 color woodblock printed in an edition of 20, distills its subject to the simplest possible title. The small edition size suggests Nakao Yoshitaka valued this particular composition highly, limiting its distribution to twenty impressions. Printed during his most productive year, the work stands alongside his dockhand, magician, and fortune teller as part of a concentrated exploration of single-figure subjects. But where those prints identify their subjects by occupation, this one strips identity to gender alone. The woman exists as form, color, and posture, her specificity residing entirely in how Nakao carved and printed her image rather than in any biographical or narrative detail.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Woman was created by Nakao Yoshitaka (中尾義隆) in 1957.
Woman depicts figures and portraits.
![[Grey Figure Posing] by Nakao Yoshitaka](https://1.api.artsmia.org/800/135848.jpg)
