Bottle with Yellow Lemons in Darkness

Bottle with Yellow Lemons in Darkness was produced over a six-year period between 1983 and 1989, reflecting Hamaguchi's practice of returning to a plate across multiple sessions to deepen tonal relationships. The composition places one or more yellow lemons alongside a bottle, all submerged in the deep, velvety black ground that defines his mature color mezzotint work. Yellow presents particular challenges in mezzotint: achieving a saturated, luminous yellow requires multiple carefully registered printings, as the pigment must be built up against the dark field rather than diluted toward it. The prolonged working period suggests the artist was refining the precise balance between the cold darkness of the ground and the warm, acidic glow of the fruit.