Weeping Beech

This woodblock print depicts a weeping beech tree, a specimen whose cascading branches create a natural canopy that falls to the ground like a living curtain. The weeping beech's form, with its dense, drooping foliage creating an enclosed interior space beneath the canopy, offered Matsubara a subject of unusual visual and spatial interest. The tree becomes almost architectural, a natural room defined by living walls of leaves. Matsubara's bold carving style suits the beech's dense mass of foliage, where individual leaves merge into a unified texture that can be rendered as broad areas of dark ink. The weeping form creates strong diagonal and curving lines that contrast with the vertical trunk, giving the composition a dynamic quality despite the stillness of the subject. The tree likely grew in a New England park or garden familiar to Matsubara from her American years.