About This Print
Likely an artist's or printing proof, as the seller of the print has seen the final version which "has some slight color and design variations." Maeda created numerous prints of Japanese mountains. In this print he has used mica highlights (click on image below) throughout the slopes of the mountains.Togakushi along with Madarao, Myōkō, Kurohime, and Iizuna are collectively known as the Five Peaks of Northern Shinano (Hokushingogaku). They make up the border of Nagano and Niigata Prefectures.
detail of silver mica highlights
click on image
click on image
"A true mountaineer has to get to the top, but the finest panoramas are down in the middle heights ... That's where I stop." Masao Maeda's finest work is often from this vantage point. He frequently went to great pains to overprint colors in order to achieve textures that make his mountains and trees determinedly tactile.1
1 Beyond the Great Wave, James King, Peter Lang, 2010, p. 184.
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #686 |
| Title | Signs of Spring - Mt. Togakushi 浅春戸隠 Asai Haru Togakushi |
| Artist | Maeda Masao (1904-1974) |
| Signature | unsigned |
| Seal | unsealed |
| Publication Date | c. 1955 |
| Edition | likely a proof print |
| Publisher | self-published |
| Carver | self-carved |
| Printer | self-printed |
| Impression | excellent |
| Colors | excellent |
| Condition | excellent - printers marks in margin |
| Genre | sosaku-hanga (creative print) |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Format | dai-oban |
| H x W Paper | 13 1/4 x 18 3/8 in. (33.7 x 46.7 cm) |
| H x W Image | 12 x 16 5/8 in. (30.5 x 42.2 cm) |
| Collections This Print | |
| Reference Literature |
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