$2,000–$15,000. Common subjects: $2,000–$5,000. Key value factors: Hamaguchi is regarded as one of the greatest mezzotint artists of the 20th century. His fruit and butterfly still lifes are most iconic and command the highest prices.
Dated 1955, this rabbit mezzotint places the work in Hamaguchi's early Paris period, when he was developing his color mezzotint technique through sustained experimentation. By 1955 he had been working in France for several years and was beginning to attract attention from critics and collectors who recognized his revival of a medium largely dormant since the eighteenth century. An animal subject in this period would have served as a formal study: the rabbit's rounded body volume, textured coat, and large dark eyes were well-suited to demonstrating the mezzotint's tonal range, from the black ground of the rocked plate through intermediate grays to the bright highlights achieved by polishing the copper with a burnisher. The 1955 date connects this work to the foundational period of Hamaguchi's technical investigation, before his approach had fully consolidated into the signature restraint of his later decades. The rabbit may be among his earliest sustained engagements with animal form, representing a category of subject he would return to alongside insects and botanical specimens.
Hebizukai
1932
Color woodblock print; oban
1935
Color woodblock print; oban
1964
Acrylic paint and oil pastel with oiled charcoal and ink over an ink and graphite underdrawing on paper
1964
Color lithograph with relief block and hand coloring; edition 35/36
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Rabbit, 1955 was created by Yozo Hamaguchi (浜口陽三).
Rabbit, 1955 depicts animals.
