Knitting Needle

Knitting Needle, dated 1985, isolates a domestic implement as its sole or primary subject—an unusual choice that foregrounds linearity and elongation against the dark mezzotint ground. A knitting needle's slender, reflective shaft presents a technical challenge: the instrument's length demands careful attention to the highlight running along its surface, which in mezzotint is achieved by burnishing a narrow band to high smoothness. The choice of such an understated, utilitarian object aligns with Hamaguchi's broader interest in common things—fruit, bottles, nuts—as vehicles for exploring light and material surface. The needle's form would introduce a strong directional axis into the composition, contrasting with the rounded, symmetrical volumes of his fruit subjects. The print belongs to his most sustained period of still-life production during the 1980s.