Night View of Beppu
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Source:
- Japanese Art Open Database
$300–$2,500. Snow and night scenes tend to command premium prices for this artist. Key value factors: Okumura's atmospheric landscape prints are modestly priced. Mountain and lake scenes are most sought after.
Beppu, a city on the northeastern coast of Kyushu, is famous for its hot springs and the steam vents that dot its hillsides. This woodblock print depicts the city at night, when artificial lights along the harbor and in the hillside neighborhoods create a warm glow against the dark coastal landscape. The nocturnal setting requires Koichi to work primarily in deep blues, blacks, and the pinpoint yellows of electric light, a palette that differs markedly from the pastel tones of his seasonal landscape prints. Night views of Japanese cities became a popular shin-hanga subject in the twentieth century, building on the yoru no keshiki tradition while incorporating modern electric illumination. Beppu's terraced geography, rising steeply from the bay, gives the night scene a layered vertical structure.
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Night View of Beppu was created by Okumura Koichi (奥村厚一).
Night View of Beppu depicts landscapes and night scenes.
