City Light
by Sarah Brayer
- Date:
- Not set
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Source:
- Japanese Art Open Database
by Sarah Brayer
$2,000–$8,000. Smaller works: $2,000–$3,500. Key value factors: Brayer's unique luminous technique on handmade washi appeals to collectors of both Japanese prints and contemporary art.
Urban illumination provides the subject for this mokuhanga print, which translates the glow of a city at night into Brayer's language of luminous abstraction. The singular "Light" in the title suggests a specific quality of radiance rather than a panoramic cityscape, perhaps the cone of a streetlamp, the warm rectangle of a window, or the diffused glow of neon reflected off wet pavement. Brayer approaches the city not as an architectural subject but as a field of light energy, stripping away structural detail to focus on how artificial illumination transforms darkness into color. Living in Kyoto, she observes how the ancient city's modern lighting overlays its historical fabric, creating visual contrasts between old wooden buildings and contemporary electric glow.
Woodblock print
1928
Color lithograph
1930
Color lithograph
1948
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
City Light was created by Sarah Brayer in Not set.
City Light depicts urban scenes.
