A woman with long flowing hair and a shadowy man embrace, floating in the air leaving lakes, mountains, and even clouds far below. The dome-like shape above them, complete with engraving marks left from the carver’s chisel, is like a curtain of wind that cuts through the sky and rises. The artist, Hasegawa Kiyoshi, had a deep knowledge of literature, and this woodcut print is his response to William Butler Yeats’ poetry collection The Wind Among the Reeds.
Describing fairies that beckon the reader to a world of gods and spirits, Yeats’ anthology is a celebration of Irish folklore. But it’s easy to see this print as a depiction of love, in which man and woman yearn to come together as one body and one soul. With swirling dynamism, it conveys a sense of passion, and perhaps captures the romantic sensibility of the young printmaker.
(SAKAMOTO Kyoko)
A woman with long flowing hair and a shadowy man embrace, floating in the air leaving lakes, mountains, and even clouds far below. The dome-like shape above them, complete with engraving marks left from the carver’s chisel, is like a curtain of wind that cuts through the sky and rises. The artist, Hasegawa Kiyoshi, had a deep knowledge of literature, and this woodcut print is his response to William Butler Yeats’ poetry collection The Wind Among the Reeds.
Describing fairies that beckon the reader to a world of gods and spirits, Yeats’ anthology is a celebration of Irish folklore. But it’s easy to see this print as a depiction of love, in which man and woman yearn to come together as one body and one soul. With swirling dynamism, it conveys a sense of passion, and perhaps captures the romantic sensibility of the young printmaker.
(SAKAMOTO Kyoko)