Mountain Shadow

Description

Mountain Shadow was created by Kasamatsu Shiro in Sosaku-hanga style, with designing, carving and printing all done by himself. Such prints by Kasamatsu Shiro were generally more abstract than his Shin-hanga style prints, where specialized carvers and printers were used under the direction of a publisher. To a small extent this might have been due to the difficulty in achieving the level of skill of the specialized carvers and printers. Given the carving and printing skill displayed in many of his Sosaku-Hanga prints, a bigger reason must, however, have been the greater freedom Kasamatsu Shiro enjoyed while working in Sosaku-hanga style. The composition shows the shadow of a mountain falling upon the woods beneath it. The bright colors for the trees suggest the season is autumn, and contrast with the darkness of the mountains behind the forest. A single brushlike line seems to denote a path into the forest and towards the mountain, raising wonder about what is to be found there.