Lyrique No. 19

"Lyrique No. 19" of 1952, executed in paper print technique, belongs to Onchi's late abstract series — numbered compositions that treated printmaking as a form of visual music, each work corresponding to an emotional or musical state rather than a representational subject. By "paper print" Onchi meant a technique in which textured paper itself became a printing block, pressed against the final paper support to produce soft, organic marks impossible with carved wood. This technical innovation, developed in his last decade, gave his late abstractions their characteristic quality of atmospheric softness.