Winter Dreams
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Publisher:
- Watanabe Shozaburo
- Source:
- Japanese Art Open Database
$1,000–$10,000. Snow and night scenes tend to command premium prices for this artist. Key value factors: Yamakawa's limited output and early death at 46 make his prints relatively scarce. Quality bijin-ga command steady prices.
Winter Dreams evokes the interior world of a woman during the coldest season, when heavy garments and shortened daylight hours encourage introspection and reverie. The title suggests a psychological dimension beyond the typical seasonal bijin-ga framework, hinting at longing, memory, or imaginative escape from the confines of winter.
Shuho's oban woodblock print renders this contemplative subject with attention to the heavy fabrics and layered clothing that winter demanded. The woman's pose and gaze likely suggest absorption in thought rather than engagement with the viewer, creating a mood of private reflection. Winter subjects in bijin-ga carried associations with endurance, patience, and the quiet beauty of restraint, qualities embodied by the plum blossom that blooms in the cold while other flowers sleep. Shuho channels these cultural resonances into a print that functions as both a portrait and a meditation on the season's emotional landscape.
Woodblock print
c. 1832/38
Color woodblock print; oban
Yuki no Miyajima
1929
Color woodblock print; oban
1932
Woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Winter Dreams was created by Yamakawa Shuho (山川秀峰).
Winter Dreams was published by Watanabe Shozaburo.
Winter Dreams depicts snow scenes and winter.
