Flame Lithograph

Flame Lithograph retains a reference to lithography in its title even within this mokuhanga edition, reflecting Shinoda's habit of carrying a single composition between media. The image likely centers on an upward, tapering form that the title makes explicit: a vertical gestural mark with the kinetic quality of a flame, possibly broadening at the base and thinning toward the top, set against a silent ground. Flame imagery in Shinoda's work tends to emphasize verticality and motion rather than literal pictorial rendering of fire — the brushstroke itself reads as flame because of its kinesis. The print would have been produced in a small edition typical of her postwar output, hand-signed and numbered. As with much of her late work, the title operates as an interpretive prompt rather than a description, asking the viewer to recognize a quality of motion in what is, structurally, an abstract calligraphic gesture descended from the sōsho cursive tradition.