Key value factors: As self-carved and self-printed works, sosaku-hanga value is tied to the artist's reputation and edition size. Larger formats, earlier editions, and historically significant works command the highest prices.
The facade of a cinema building, captured in woodblock as a subject of urban modernity by Fujimaki Yoshio. Movie theaters were potent symbols of twentieth-century popular culture in Japan, their illuminated signage and architectural bravado transforming ordinary streetscapes into zones of fantasy and spectacle. Fujimaki depicts the cinema not as mere backdrop but as worthy subject in itself—the marquee lettering, the entrance canopy, perhaps the shadows of waiting moviegoers all composed with the same care that earlier printmakers lavished on temple gates and castle walls. The woodblock medium lends unexpected gravitas to this temple of popular entertainment.
Woodblock print
1928
Color lithograph
1930
Color lithograph
1948
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Cinema was created by Fujimaki Yoshio (藤牧義夫).
Cinema depicts urban scenes, architecture, and daily life.
