Flowers In Vase (Winter)
by Ohno Bakufu
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Japanese Art Open Database
- Image courtesy of
- Japanese Art Open Database
Description
The primary impression of Ohno Bakufu's Flowers in Vase (Winter) series, this still-life print establishes the base composition from which subsequent variants derive. A ceramic or lacquered vase holds an arrangement of winter-blooming flowers — likely camellia, plum blossom, narcissus, or a combination — rendered with the botanical precision Ohno applied across all his natural history subjects. The still-life format allowed printmakers to control composition entirely, and the arrangement here likely follows principles of ikebana: asymmetrical balance, attention to line and negative space, and the placement of blooms at different heights and angles to suggest natural growth. Multiple woodblock passes would layer color across petals and foliage, with the vase's smooth surface contrasting against the organic irregularity of the flowers. This print serves as the tonal and compositional anchor for the Flowers in Vase (Winter) sequence.
