Tulips in Vase

Tulips arranged in a vase — a quintessentially Dutch subject that connects Urushibara's European experience to the Netherlands' historical association with floral cultivation and still-life painting. Around 1921, Urushibara applied his color woodblock technique to this traditional still-life subject, likely emphasizing the bold, clean forms of tulip blooms in the saturated pigments that woodblock printing achieves most brilliantly. The tulip's structured simplicity — a cup of color on a stem — translates naturally into the woodblock aesthetic of clear outlines and flat color.