A lemon—one of Hamaguchi's most frequently recurring subjects—is presented here in isolation against a deep mezzotint ground. The fruit's elliptical form and textured rind offered Hamaguchi an occasion to demonstrate the tonal range available within the intaglio process: the rough peel scatters light differently from the smoother poles, and the slight waxy sheen of the surface required careful gradations of burnishing across the copper plate. Hamaguchi often placed single fruits without a tabletop or spatial reference, allowing them to float in darkness as objects of pure contemplation rather than domestic arrangement. The lemon's yellow required particular precision in the color mezzotint process, since achieving a saturated yellow against an unlinked white paper ground meant controlling the ink film across multiple printing passes. Compositionally, the work exemplifies the restraint that distinguished Hamaguchi from European printmakers working in the same medium: no decorative framing, no narrative context, only the object and the quality of light playing across its surface.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Lemon was created by Yozo Hamaguchi (浜口陽三).
Lemon uses Mezzotint, on woodblock print.
Lemon depicts still life and food & drink.
