Beautiful signed proof impression printed in black and soft tones of dark blue and orange inks.
Very rare proof of the image alone, printed without the text block (Horner C20).
This exquisite little woodcut stands out as one of Urushibara’s most romantic prints. Rare in any form, Urushibara printed most impressions of this woodcut as a bookplate with a further block carrying the works “Ex Libris 1922” printed across the base of the image (Horner C21 & C22). Uncommon proofs of the image alone, such as this, show the true beauty of Urushibara’s design at its finest.
The work of the Japanese printmaker Yoshijiro Urushibara is often included amongst British and European prints as the bulk of his woodblock work was produced in England. He was undoubtedly the most sophisticated and technically advanced of those at work on multiple colour block printing in England soon after the turn of the century and he assisted a number of the leading British printmakers including both Sir Frank Brangwyn and Sir George Clausen with their prints in this medium.
Yoshijiro Urushibara is best known internationally for his complex colour woodcuts of flowers and for his works after the designs of leading Western artists; however, he produced a number of elegant and moody works of his own design, employing the use of silhouette to simple yet beautiful effect -
Owl and Crescent Moon is amongst the most memorable of these designs.
On fine simile Japan paper with full margins. Generally very good original condition.
(An image of the woodcut printed with one of the ‘Ex Libris’ blocks is appended for comparison).
