An unusual subject for shin-hanga, Cirrocumulus Clouds demonstrates Kasamatsu's interest in capturing transient atmospheric phenomena. This Watanabe-published work typically sells for $800-$2,000 in lifetime editions. The cloud formations required expert bokashi technique, making well-printed impressions particularly appealing to collectors who appreciate technical virtuosity.
High cirrocumulus clouds — the mackerel sky of late summer or autumn — fill the composition in this early print from 1919, when Kasamatsu was only twenty-one and still developing his printmaking vocabulary. The cloud study suggests a young artist interested in the formal problem of rendering atmospheric phenomena in the woodblock medium: how to convey the mass and translucence of high-altitude cloud formations using the limited toolkit of carved block and water-based pigment. It is an early gesture toward the atmospheric sensitivity that would define his mature work.
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.
Cirrocumulus Clouds (鱗雲) was created by Shiro Kasamatsu (笠松紫浪) in 1919.
Cirrocumulus Clouds uses Bokashi, Nishiki-e, and Moku-hanga, on color woodblock print.
Cirrocumulus Clouds was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (1919).
Cirrocumulus Clouds depicts landscapes and abstract.
Cirrocumulus Clouds measures 38.5 × 26.7 cm (Oban format).
