$1,000–$5,000. Common subjects: $1,000–$2,000. Key value factors: Hiratsuka's intricate mixed-media prints appeal to collectors of both Japanese and contemporary Western art.
Fortune-telling and bodily reading converge in this woodblock print, where Hiratsuka explores the ancient practices of divining character and fate from the lines of the palm and the placement of moles on the skin. The title's pairing of "magical" with these diagnostic arts frames them as belonging to a realm between science and enchantment. Figures and hands occupy the composition, with exaggerated palm lines and marked skin surfaces that transform the body into a text to be read. Hiratsuka's carved lines echo the subject's own concern with linear patterns, creating a visual parallel between the printmaker's gouges in wood and the fortune-teller's interpretation of creases in flesh.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Magical Palm Reading and Mole Reading was created by Yuji Hiratsuka (平塚雄二).
Magical Palm Reading and Mole Reading depicts figures, mythology, and daily life.
