Before the Stove

A bearded man in a blue-green jacket and dark trousers sits with both hands raised, palms out, toward an unseen stove; a white cloth is draped around his neck. Beside him on a reddish-brown stand sits a gray kettle, with a wooden pole and two pale vertical forms behind him against a solid black background. The print uses flat, simplified blocks of color — indigo-green, rust, gray, and black — with minimal facial detail and a small red artist's seal at the lower right.

Before the Stove, Umetaro Azechi. Woodblock print, year unknown.