Naoko

Dated 1966, this ink-on-paper woodblock print shares the artist's own given name as its title. Whether a self-portrait, a personal meditation, or a work named for someone else called Naoko, the title establishes an intimate connection between artist and image. The ink-only palette aligns with Matsubara's well-known black-and-white work, where the absence of color concentrates attention on form, texture, and the physical marks of the carved block. Produced during the mid-1960s, when Matsubara was developing the large-scale, bold graphic style that would define her mature output, this print represents a moment of artistic self-definition. The woodblock's carved surface and the handmade paper's absorbent texture combine to produce an image that is simultaneously graphic and tactile.