Grapes

This woodblock print depicting grapes places Hamaguchi's signature subject into a medium ordinarily associated with the Japanese printing tradition—hand-carved blocks, washi paper, and water-based pigments—rather than his primary intaglio work. Grapes were among his most repeatedly explored motifs in mezzotint, where individual spheres could be rendered with subtle tonal gradients suggesting the bloom on their skins. In woodblock the technical demands differ fundamentally: volume is suggested through overlapping color passages from multiple blocks rather than through burnished highlights against a roughened plate. The result likely emphasizes outline and flat color areas over the deep chiaroscuro of his mezzotint grape compositions. The subject nonetheless connects to the broader still-life tradition he sustained across all the print media he practiced.