$500–$5,000. Common mountain prints: $500–$1,500. Key value factors: Azechi's cheerful mountain prints have consistent demand. Larger and more complex compositions are most valued.
Before the Stove—a figure warming themselves at an iron wood-burning stove, the quintessential mountain hut domestic moment—is one of Azechi's most intimate subjects. The stove's warmth after cold, the posture of a body seeking heat, the small enclosed space of a hut interior against the vast cold outside: this compression of comfort and exposure gave him material for one of his warmest compositions, the figure's rounded, bundled form bending toward the stove as naturally as a plant toward light.
1944 (printed c. 1950 from recut block?)
Color woodblock print; oban
1944 (printed c. 1950 from recut block?)
Color woodblock print; oban
1945
Color woodblock print
1961
Color woodblock print; edition 10/100
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Before the Stove was created by Umetaro Azechi (畦地梅太郎).
Before the Stove depicts figures, daily life, and interiors.
