Green and blue Horse

A single horse rendered in non-naturalistic green and blue pigments, exemplifying Nakayama's mature approach to his signature subject. From the late 1950s, Nakayama produced a sustained body of horse imagery in which color served expressive rather than descriptive ends — animals appeared in violets, oranges, blues, and greens unconnected to actual coat coloration. The horse here is likely carved with the broad sweeping gouge marks Nakayama favored, gestures that register visibly on the printed surface and convey muscular volume through directional cutting rather than tonal modeling. [Bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradation may shade the body or background, but the dominant effect comes from flat planes of saturated color and incised contour pulled under [baren](/glossary/baren) pressure onto washi. As a [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) work, the print was designed, carved, and printed by Nakayama himself, distinct from the workshop-produced [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) and [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) horse imagery of earlier eras. Pieces of this kind sit alongside 'Horses in the Storm' and 'Running' within his decades-long horse cycle.