Series: #46 from Famous Views of the Sixty-odd Provinces (Rokujuyoshu Meisho Zue)
Medium: Woodblock
Dimensions: 15 x 10 inches (Oban)
Artist details: Japanese, 1797 - 1858
Date of plate: Date of Block 1853/1812
Condition: Very good early color. Margins skillfully restored.

Recommended by Rebecca (Gallery Manager):
"Of the magnificent “Famous Views of the Sixty-Odd Provences”, ‘Mimasake Provence. Yamabusi Valley’ displays a wonderful humor and humanity. We can all relate to the man chasing his hat that has flown away in a wind storm. Amongst this expertly preserved and restored series of breathtaking Japanese landscapes, ‘Mimasake Provence. Yamabusi Valley’ reminds us to appreciate the little misadventures that make life interesting."

Medium: Reduction woodcut
Dimensions: 8 x 10 inches (image)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: American, 1938
Date Finished: 1985
Edition: of 180

Recommended by Nikki (Fine Print Photographer & Content Publisher):
"Gordon Mortensen uses precise registration and his keen eye for layering color in this reduction woodcut. Mortensen prints a single color of ink; cuts away a small amount of wood; inks the same block in a different color, before cutting away more from the block; and repeating for as many different colors as the viewer can spot. This process can be daunting for many artists because once you cut the block, there is no going back. The result of Mortensen’s intense labor is a wide variety of texture and an expert build up of layers into atmospheric perspective that make for a stunning landscape."

Series: Friends
Medium: Intaglio and chine-collé
Dimensions: 6 x 4 inches
Signature: Signed
Artist details: Japanese, 1960
Date finished: 2013
Edition: of 20

Recommended by Suzannah (Marketing and Communications Manager):
"Tomiyuki Sakuta’s haunting and dreamlike prints constantly shake me to my core and capture my imagination for hours. John 助運 is no different; It comes from a series of prints, Friends, in which Sakuta drew the faces of people from his first impression of their character. The eerie twisting of roots or fibers of John 助運 left me searching for a face among the disorder. Sakuta’s technique creates tactile lines that root me in my body, but in an image that unsettles and intrigues me."

Medium: Lithograph
Dimensions: 14 x 10 inches (Image) 18 7/8 x 12 inches (Sheet)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: Welsh / English, 1864 - 1944
Date finished: 1901
Provenance: Exhibition: SAF 190, Goupil 1903
Condition: Good condition

Recommended by Catherine (Collections Assistant):
"I am captivated by the sitter in this Albert de Belleroche lithograph, La Toque Noire (The Black Hat). Belleroche's candid portrait of this early 20th century woman provides such a sensitive portrayal of her facial expression that the viewer can almost imagine what's on her mind- or at least is compelled to wonder. Despite her composed outward appearance, so much is contained in her far-off look. Is she simply day-dreaming out of boredom, or is she feeling a deep sense of ennui and disquiet? The rendering of her face is so nuanced that the viewer's own feelings easily influence their interpretation of her expression."

Medium: Woodblock
Dimensions: 20 7/8 x 15 inches
Signature: Signed
Artist details: Japanese, 1940
Date finished: 2004
Edition: of 30

Recommended by Emma (Marketing & Communications Manager):
"Aoki's work often focuses on human interaction and human connection - or lack thereof. Amidst his many works featuring crowds of busy people and missed connections, Aoki has delivered this beautiful portrayal of two figures facing each other, stopped in time. With emphatically oversized arms, the figures demonstrate the incredible intimacy and tenderness of simple human touch. Though the figures have no facial features, the piece evokes the disarming sensation of staring directly into someone else's eyes. All that cannot be explained about human emotion seems to rest in the quiet space created between them." 

Series: Holes for Loneliness Games
Medium: Etching, aquatint
Dimensions: 10 1/4 x 10 1/2 inches (image) 15 1/2 x 15 3/4 inches (sheet)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: Japanese, 1986
Date finished: 2012
Edition: of 20

Recommended by Nikki (Fine Print Photographer & Content Publisher):
"The level of technical detail in this etching is intricate - from each character’s particular facial expression to the curtains, hanging plants, mirror, and archway tile designs. Takeda is so good at taking simple everyday things like drinking coffee at a coffee shop and turning them into interesting shadow box scenes. The viewer can’t help but look at each of the people in this crowded room and wonder what they are all thinking behind their wide eyes. The only character not looking at one another or at themselves in the mirror is the person directly in front of the viewer. Rather than participating in the gossip or chatter, this person is rolling their eyes and looking up at the ceiling, while they drink their coffee."

Medium: Wood engraving
Dimensions: 10 3/4 x 5 7/8 inches (image)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: Canadian , 1952
Edition: of 50

Recommended by Sam (Owner & Director):
"This wood engraving makes particularly effective use of the detail possible with the medium. The artist uses the form of the farmer viewed from the back, to show the man's home and property. You get a clear sense of the place and that he is directly connected to this rural context of wildlife, river, and the surrounding fields. The image shows that it is all part of him."

Medium: Color lithograph
Dimensions: 19 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches
Signature: Signed
Artist details: German, 1935
Date finished: 1973
Edition: of 222

Recommended by Sam (Owner & Director):
"Bernhard Jager's Untitled (Pregnant Woman) is a striking color lithograph which reflects the artist's early studies and interest in biology. He makes unique use of liquid tusche for most of his lithographic images. This particular technique and drawing approach allow him to suggest the inner workings of the body while preserving the outline of the form. His paintings and prints are in many museum collections including  the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston."

Series: Sequential Portfolio
Medium: Serigraph
Dimensions: 26 x 19 inches
Artist details: American, 1930 - 2020
Date finished: 1972
Edition: of 200
Publisher: Sanmore Editions, N.Y.

Recommended by Emma (Marketing & Communications Manager):
"Anusckiewicz uses color and form to create a striking composition filled with optical illusion. The piece features an irresistible candy-colored palette so challenging for the eyes and brain that it seems to vibrate on the paper. The precisely printed two-dimensional planes of color create the illusion of three dimensions, while the color blocks of the background blend together visually to create a rainbow gradient. This print is simple yet full of surprises."

Medium: Intaglio
Dimensions: 14 x 7 inches
Artist details: American, 1984
Date finished: 2010
Edition: AP

Recommended by Paige (Collections Manager):
"This piece comes from Carrie Lingscheit's twenty thousand moments project, based on the limitations of our human brains and the amount of information that can be processed and saved from the 20,000 (or so) moments in a given day. Momento No. 3273 (pine) hones in on a feeling, to pine, and the quiet setting where it happens, alone in a bed. It beautifully captures the way we are drawn inward to our own emotions and imagination when we pine for someone or something. Negative space is used to draw our attention down to the dark, intense face; the surroundings are blurred and forgotten, represented only with a lovely watercolor texture, just as we tune out the world when lost in intense thought."

Medium: Etching, aquatint
Dimensions: 10 5/8 x 20 3/8 inches (image) 14 x 25 1/4 inches (sheet)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: Japanese, 1986
Date finished: 2015
Edition: of 15

Recommended by Sam (Owner & Director):
"Contemporary Japanese artist Azumi Takeda's etching Full, Full, Full is part of a wonderful series showing groups of people waiting, engrossed in various activities, or, as in this case, the artist focuses on the detritus left behind that references what they had been doing. There is order with the placement of the disparate objects, that speaks about each of the individuals that is no longer in the room. Takeda's use of the etching and aquatint process, is perfect for the detail required."

Medium: Intaglio and linocut
Dimensions: 4 x 6 inches (image)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: British / Chinese, 1973
Date finished: 2009
Edition: of 20

Recommended by Nikki (Fine Print Photographer & Content Publisher):
"Wuon Gean Ho’s Devour V is from  a series of intaglios she created in 2009. This series begins with a woman asleep, laying on top of a tiger. The cat awakes first and begins walking around until the woman also awakes and opens her feral-looking eyes. They separate from one another, and begin sizing each other up as they circle. They grapple, but do eventually come to terms with each other (tiger licks the woman’s face) before dissolving into each other and  the landscape. Devour V illustrates the moment when the woman is fully awake to her struggle with full realization of her circumstances and is actively fighting. Part of being human is coming to terms with our own wild cats that can wake up in us. Eventually, there will be peace and acceptance, but we first have to face them. Ho makes this struggle look sensual and chaotic with her use of subtle plate tone wiping and overlapping hatch marks in the plate. She effectively captures how it can feel to be rolling about with one’s own demons in the intimate space of our own heads."

Medium: Woodcut
Dimensions: 30 x 30 inches (image/sheet)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: American, 1925 - 2016
Date finished: 2010
Edition: 10/100
Reference: Summers 255

Recommended by Emma (Marketing & Communications Manager):
"It's unusual for Carol Summers, known for his bold color palettes, to create a monochromatic woodcut. In our increasingly digital world, the RGB version of indigo permeates our lives as the go-to color for hyperlinks and other mundane digital functions. In Las Cascadeas De Tamasopo Summers reminds me of indigo's richness and beauty. This print makes me crave the pigment and everything I associate with it - summertime, Mediterranean waters, ceramics painted by hand. I feel enthralled as if I am seeing color for the first time."   

Medium: Woodcut
Dimensions: 7 1/2 x 7 1/4 inches (Blocks) 10 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches (Sheet)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: Japanese, 1940
Date finished: 2008
Edition: of 35

Recommended by Rebecca (Gallery Manager):
"Tetsuo Aoki is a master of illustrating people, relationships, and emotions. This woodcut in particular speaks volumes about the world today. The figure's back is arched in order to put their head in their exaggerated hands. The posture speaks to the angst and despondency of the main figure, as does the darkness of the ink. Meanwhile, through the gap we can see other people walking by as if all is normal. In the Hand is a small and intimate woodcut that mirrors how I feel while overwhelmed by these tragic events."

Medium: Ink drawing on paper
Dimensions: 6 x 5 inches (sheet)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: American, 1929 - 2004
Date finished: 1975

Recommended by Paige (Collections Manager):
"Wesley Wehr was known for living and creating modestly. Legend has it, he would carry an entire exhibition's worth of artwork in a small briefcase and could be found drinking coffee in the U District with his briefcase in tow. But what his drawings and paintings lack in size they make up for in charm and detail. His imaginary figures are drawn so carefully, without any stray lines or second thoughts, as if he always knew how the figure would emerge from the paper. Although I would never have invented the same figure, it made perfect sense to me from the moment I saw it."

Medium: Woodcut
Dimensions: 12 x 8 inches (image) 17 1/4 x 11 1/2 inches (sheet)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: American, 1987
Date finished: 2019
Edition: of 10

Recommended by Emma (Marketing & Communications Manager):
"I'm delighted and pleasantly surprised by how lasting an impression this graphic yucca print has left on me since first seeing it. The vertical format, rich black gradient, and unexpected use of negative space are simple and satisfying. There's nothing to overthink and everything to enjoy. It's incredibly charming how Spitzack has taken an ordinary subject and made such striking imagery with it."

Medium: Wood engraving
Dimensions: 5 x 6 1/2 inches
Artist details: Japanese, 1964
Date finished: 2007
Edition: of 50

Recommended by Paige (Collections Manager):
"Toru Sugita is a California-based Japanese artist and teacher who creates a variety of landscape and city scene prints. He has spent years thinking about changing light and is an expert at capturing each specific type of light that is unique to a place and a moment. On My Balcony I is a beautiful, simple wood engraving that captures a very individual scene: "my" balcony. It isn't lavish or curated; it isn't full of lush plants or exciting people - it's simple and sincere. The intimate process of carving a wood block is felt in this small piece. I feel the block's texture and the quiet moments that the artist spent with it. Now that we often think about curating images of our lives to only present the very best and most exciting aspects of ourselves, I am fascinated by Sugita's emphasis on the ordinary."

Series: Miserere
Medium: Mixed etching
Dimensions: 22 3/4 x 16 1/4 inches
Signature: None were signed. Watermark, Ambroise Vollard
Artist details: French, 1871 - 1958
Edition: 208/425 (+ 25 HC)
Printer: Jacquemin, 1922 - 1927
Publisher: Société d'Édition l'Étoile Filante, Paris 1948

Recommended by Nikki (Fine Print Photographer & Content Publisher):
"Georges Rouault was commissioned to make this piece as a part of the Miserere (Misery) Series in 1916 (during WWI). During times of collective or individual trauma, people have always turned to artists to give themselves moments of peace, escape, or distraction. Visual arts, books, netflix, memes, and music are all things we are using today to deal with the pandemic and our own individual struggles. This etching reminds its viewers of the importance of artists and their creativity. Rouault’s work, ‘il serait si doux d’aimer’ or ‘to love would be so sweet’ gives just as much sweetness and comfort today as it did when it was published in 1948. Humans need connection and love. Even in gray, Rouault’s blend of fauvism and expressionism in this image of parent and child puts a small, but strong light on this pocket of love amongst all the misery that surrounds it."

Medium: Lithograph
Dimensions: 15 3/4 x 23 3/4 inches (image) 19 3/4 x 27 1/2 inches (sheet)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: Japanese, 1961
Date finished: 2017
Edition: of 30

Recommended by Rebecca (Gallery Manager):
"Although now a favorite artist of mine, I originally found Keisuke Yamamoto's lithographs to be a bit austere. It wasn't until I took the time to continue looking that my experience of the scene transformed. Now I feel welcomed into the moment. I long to sit in the chair, to feel the breeze enter the room through the window, and to be warmed by the light. The artist has impeccable technique from the drawing stage to the printing of the lithograph. To watch him sharpen a litho pencil is to understand his precision. Through exquisite rendering, Yamamoto brings to life a place and a moment that I long to experience."

Medium: Reduction woodcut
Dimensions: 6 x 8 inches (image)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: American, 1938
Date Finished: 1982
Edition: of 300

Recommended by Emma (Marketing & Communications Manager):
"Gordon Mortensen is known for his use of vibrant color palettes and his richly detailed reduction woodcut landscapes. In Winter Sumac, the palette is just ever so slightly 'muted' in comparison - if you consider gorgeous lilac and fuschia tones muted. This scene, like all of his landscapes, makes me want to go outside and appreciate the beauty of nature during this cold winter season."

Medium: Lithograph
Dimensions: 20 x 15 inches
Signature: Signed
Artist details: American, 1969
Date finished: 2003
Edition: of 23

Recommended by Nikki (Fine Print Photographer & Content Publisher):
"The Wise Virgin by Jenny Schmid references the parable Jesus told about five foolish virgins and five wise virgins meeting their bridegroom for the first time without warning in the Christian bible. The parable is meant as a metaphor for being ready for death at all times. Once this story came out of the mouths of men at the pulpit, it was twisted to be a warning about women who are unchaste. In this lithograph, the central character is a girl who is afraid - hunched over and ducking away from the devil and his poisonous alcohol. She’s also clutching her bibles as she avoids the temptation of the man at her heel, not looking out for the female creature she steps on, unknowingly. This piece is different from Schmid’s other works she made around this time with alternate worlds where girls are adventurers who break from society’s prescribed roles for them. Instead, she’s using her expert lithographic skills to illustrate the harsh dichotomy girls have pushed on them - be a good girl or be a bad girl."

Medium: Etching
Dimensions: 5 x 4 7/8 inches
Signature: Signed
Artist details: Russian, 1959
Date finished: 2010
Edition: of 60

Recommended by Nikki (Fine Print Photographer & Content Publisher):
"This tiny etching is expertly crafted by Eastern European artist, Vladimir Zuev, to illustrate the story of Leda and the swan (aka, Zeus pretending to be a swan). Zeus seduces or rapes Leda, depending on the storyteller. Zeus fills the background, but subtly, despite his violent action. Instead, Zuev centers the story on Leda and does not overly sexualize her like most popular depictions, including not giving her hair. There are clues to her gender, but she is closed off to the viewer with her crossed legs and bent arms - not available for visual consumption. Instead, Leda is looking directly at the viewer - forcing us to look at her humanity.  

This image serves as a reminder that violence towards women is still prevalent, but not just in overt actions. It exists in the books we read, the media we consume, the words we use, the stories we retell, the art we purchase. This small image packs a very large punch and reminds us to critically analyze our own behaviors and constructs of thinking around women and violence."

Medium: Etching and aquatint
Dimensions: 17 3/8 x 26 1/2 inches
Signature: Signed
Artist details: Italian, 1921 - 2009
Date finished: 1958
Edition: 152/220
Condition: G.G. blindstamp, lower left.

Recommended by Nikki (Fine Print Photographer & Content Publisher):
"Mario Avati’s piece Le Corbus (Raven) seems macabre, but there is a beauty found in sitting with death in this still life. By posing the bird like this, Avati has carefully highlighted the raven and all the interesting facets of its wings, face, body, and feet as the viewer’s eye moves from the top left of the mezzotint to the bottom right, across a clear diagonal. This image is a study of light, texture, and shape - referencing the rich history of Dutch still life paintings. The milky eye of the bird ‘looking’ directly at the viewer also serves as a memento mori, a reminder that death happens to everyone eventually."

Medium: Mezzotint
Dimensions: 12 x 9 1/2 inches (plate)
Artist details: American, 1955
Date finished: 2001
Edition: 100

Recommended by Rebecca (Gallery Manager):
"Art Werger always puts mezzotint to good use and he uses it to its fullest in this dark, snowy scene. Passage has all of the best elements of a night scene - high contrast, shadows, reflections, and mystery. The subtle differences in the footprints tell you which figures are coming and which are going, but their faces are obscured by darkness and their umbrellas fighting against the wind. I feel cold but comforted imagining myself in the quiet night, my footsteps muted by the snow. The lighting and depth of view reminds me of other great artists like John Sloan and others of the 1920s-40s. It is a beautifully executed, timeless scene."

Medium: Collagraph
Dimensions: 17 1/2 x 18 1/4 inches
Signature: Signed
Artist details: American, 1921 - 2017
Edition: 2/50

Recommended by Rebecca (Gallery Manager):
"John Ross was an important artist and publisher (High Tide Press) in the printmaking community and was instrumental to the development of the collagraph along with his wife, Clare Romano, and Glen Alps. Of the collagraph process, Ross once said, "From these ordinary materials, I can create city streets, mountains, canyons, pueblo dwellings, oil refineries, skyscrapers, and other constructions, either realistic or visionary." Refinery shows all that Ross accomplished with collagraphs in a beautifully balanced composition. The piece stays true to the industrial nature of a refinery while adding rich texture, sumptuous color, and engaging detail."