Mt. Hodaka at Daybreak

Item

Title

Mt. Hodaka at Daybreak

Creator

Susumu YAMAGUCHI
Japanese, 1897-1983

Date

1955

Materials

Woodblock print

Measurements

13-3/8 x 19-1/2 in. (34 x 49.6 cm)

Description

Susumu Yamaguchi, from rural Nagano prefecture, moved to Tokyo in 1920 to study western art under Kuroda Seiki at the Aoibashi western Painting Institute of Tokyo. At the same time, he joined the sōsaku hanga (creative prints) movement, creating self-drawn, self-carved, and self-printed woodblock prints.

Interest in sōsaku hanga increased dramatically after World War II. The movement embodied the new democratic ideals of individualism and the prints were bought as souvenirs that depicted a foreign place. By this time, however, Yamaguchi had moved back to the countryside in Nagano Prefecture following the carpet bombings of Tokyo in 1945. He became a farmer, though he continued creating and exhibiting his prints.

Mt. Hodaka is one of Japan’s most famous mountains and is situated in Japan’s Hida Mountains on the border between Nagano and Gifu prefectures. Like Mount Fuji, the mountain is a popular landmark used to represent Japanese tradition and culture.

Source

Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University, Gift from the Estate of Sarah Elizabeth Croll.

Identifier

97.22

Rights

This image is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. Other uses are not permitted.

Item sets