Ancient No. 1 (Mukashi No. 1)
- Date:
- 1960
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print; edition 4/20
- Edition:
- Self-printed
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
$500–$5,000. Common prints: $500–$1,500. Key value factors: Yoshida Masaji's abstract prints are collected by those interested in post-war Japanese modernism.
Created in 1960 as edition 4 of 20, this color woodblock print draws on the concept of "mukashi," the Japanese word for ancient times or long ago. Masaji's title invokes deep history not through depiction of recognizable artifacts but through abstract forms that suggest geological strata, weathered surfaces, and the slow accumulation of time made visible in layered material. The limited edition of twenty impressions reflects the sosaku-hanga emphasis on the print as an original artwork rather than a mass-produced reproduction. Each impression in the edition would carry slight variations in ink density and pressure, the unavoidable traces of hand printing that sosaku-hanga artists valued as marks of individual authorship rather than flaws to be eliminated.
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Ancient No. 1 (Mukashi No. 1) was created by Yoshida Masaji (吉田政次) in 1960.
Ancient No. 1 (Mukashi No. 1) depicts landscapes and abstract.
