Yozakura

Yozakura, or cherry blossoms viewed at night, is a subject natively suited to the mezzotint medium: the fundamental opposition of pale, lit petals against a dark, atmospheric ground translates almost directly into the procedure of burnishing white into a rocked plate. As a color mezzotint, this print would have required either separately inked plates or à la poupée inking, with multiple ink colors selectively applied to a single plate. Cherry blossom subjects connect Hiroshima's practice to a long history in Japanese printmaking, but the night-blossom variant has comparatively less lineage in traditional ukiyo-e — which favored daylight or lantern-lit hanami scenes — and more in shin-hanga and post-war intaglio, where the night register opens room for atmospheric handling. The 2010 edition is one of two yozakura mezzotints by the artist a decade apart.