$500–$4,000. Common prints: $500–$1,500. Key value factors: Matsubara's bold black-and-white prints are distinctive and sought after. Larger formats command premiums.
Dated 1962 in the Showa period, this woodblock print is the first in a series depicting a conservatory, likely a greenhouse or botanical garden structure. The glass-and-iron architecture of a conservatory, with its transparent walls revealing tropical vegetation within, offered Matsubara a subject where architecture and nature interpenetrate. The grid of glass panes creates a geometric framework through which organic plant forms are visible, a visual tension between the rigid and the wild that Matsubara could express powerfully in the carved block. The "I" designation marks this as the inaugural exploration of a subject she would return to in subsequent prints. The conservatory theme allowed Matsubara to work simultaneously with architectural precision and botanical exuberance, two modes that rarely overlap in other subjects.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Conservatory I, Shôwa period, dated 1962 was created by Naoko Matsubara (松原直子).
Conservatory I, Shôwa period, dated 1962 depicts architecture, gardens, and trees.
