JAPANESE MID-20TH CENTURY VINTAGE BLACK & WHITE AQUATINT FEATURING PAIR OF OUTSTRETCHED ARMS & HANDS CLEANING/ WIPING WINDOW GLASS, W/JAPANESE CALLIGRAPHY ALONG BACK EDGE 

OF MATTING

(Circa 1956-1964)

Post WWII Japanese Modernist fine art & printmaking

DIMENSIONS: 

 Matting: 20" Width x 151⁄2" Height
Image: 15 1⁄2" Width x 10 1⁄2" Height

DESCRIPTION: 

This is the second of a pair of Post WWII mid-20th century vintage Japanese medium to large format black and white aquatint prints, realized by the same Japanese artist. They were found together in a portfolio with their original hinged mat systems intact, in place and fortunately protecting the prints over the years, keeping the surface of the printmaking vellum paper free from scuffs and abrasions. As in the first of the two prints, this print like its sister aquatint, offers the poetic graphic iconography of a pair of outstretched arms and hands holding rags and seeming to clean the surface of glass, allowing them to better see outside. As many Japanese citizens in contemporary post-WWII Japan are city apartment dwellers and subjected to the physical, as well as the psychological challenges of living in close proximity to so many other people in any number of densely populated Japanese cities, the window then, is perhaps more than just a transparent peephole to the outside world. It rather becomes a sacred portal, a divine messenger of the outside world, often foreboding but also bringing light, hope and promise of possibility and of perhaps better tomorrows. Magnificent and oddly appropriate, especially in the times in which we're all now living. Magnificent.

CONDITION:

Very Good to Excellent overall vintage condition. There's some minor foxing on the matboard. The image itself and the pictorial plane are free from foxing, mildew damage, tears, creases, tanning, color diminishment or other condition issues.