Portrait of Hartnett

"Portrait of Hartnett" depicts a Western subject — possibly a collector, scholar, or diplomat who was part of Onchi's international circle. His portraits of Western subjects are relatively rare but significant: they demonstrate the application of his formal portrait vocabulary to non-Japanese physiognomy, and they document his real engagement with the international dimensions of contemporary printmaking culture. The quality of observation Onchi brought to Western faces was the same he applied to Japanese ones: each individual's specific character registered with the same formal precision.