About This Print
The artist's depiction of a stone statue of the Buddha in meditation from the famous Yungang caves in Datong, China, which the artist must have visited during his 1943 stint teaching print classes in Japanese-occupied Beijing. As can be seen below, another state of this print exists and is likely the first state given the artist's hand-written pencil signature in the bottom margin. This collection's print is certainly printed from the same blocks. However, it bears a different artist's seal, the artist's "Un" seal rather than the artist's "Hiratsuka" seal and rather than being hand-signed by Hiratsuka in the bottom margin, it bears his name stamp, 平塚運一, in the left margin.
Stone Bodhisattva at Datong, China, 1944
Color woodblock print 22.3 x 17.0 cm
The Art Institute of Chicago
Hiratsuka Un'ichi-Van Zelst Family Collection, 2007.367
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #1377 |
| Title | Stone Bodhisattva at Datong, China [as given by The Art Institute of Chicago] 大同石仏菩薩 [Datong sekibutsu bosatsu] as written in the bottom margin of the impression in the collection of The Art Institute of Chicago 大同雲崗石佛 [Stone Buddha at Yungang, Datong], in Chinese, as written on the original folder that contained this collection's print. |
| Series | |
| Artist | Hiratsuka Un'ichi (1895-1997) |
| Signature |  |
| Seal |  運 - "un"seal within image |
| Date | 1944 |
| Edition | |
| Publisher | self-published |
| Printer | the artist |
| Impression | excellent |
| Colors | excellent |
| Condition | good - handling creases; mounted to original backing as issued |
| Genre | sosaku hanga (creative print) |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Format | |
| H x W Paper | 8 11/16 x 6 3/4 (22.1 x 17.1 cm) |
| H x W Image | 7 3/8 x 5 9/16 (18.7 x 14.16 cm) |
| Collections This Print | The Art Institute of Chicago 2007.367 |
| Reference Literature | Hiratsuka: Modern Master, Helen Merritt, et. al., Art Institute of Chicago, 2001, pl. 23, p. 61. |
 |  |  |  |  |