Reunion

Reunion suggests a figurative or symbolic subject — perhaps two or more forms brought into proximity within the composition — handled in the simplified, planar idiom Shinagawa favored. Whether the figures are human, abstracted, or wholly symbolic, the print would rely on shape relationships and color juxtaposition rather than detailed line work, an approach typical of mid-twentieth-century sosaku-hanga. As with all of Shinagawa's output, the work was self-drawn, self-carved, and self-printed, with each impression burnished by baren onto washi in his own studio. The narrative or emotional implication of the title is unusual within his predominantly landscape-oriented body of work, indicating that Reunion sits alongside the more figurative experiments such as his nude studies and stylized character pieces. It demonstrates the range of subject matter Shinagawa explored across his unusually long career, while never departing from the hand-production principles that defined the creative-print movement.