Akira Kurosaki - 深い闇3 (Deep Darkness 3)

Modern | Sōsaku Hanga Woodblock Print

A fabulous print by Akira Kurosaki: 深い闇3 (Deep Darkness 3). Printed in a corner-to-corner diamond format, a staircase rises through the centre of a vast black field, its steps picked out in a shimmering, almost mica-like silver pigment. A pale crescent-like form sits in the upper corner, while small circular marks drift across the darkness and figurative organic shapes gather below. The staircase appears almost suspended in space, drawing the eye upward through the composition and giving the image a strong sense of depth. Deep Darkness 3 won Third Prize at the 14th Shell Art Award and is an important early example of the dark, surreal imagery that established Kurosaki’s reputation. 🌑✨

• Year & Edition: 1970 · Ed. of 30 (15/30) (signed & titled in pencil to plate).
• Medium: Woodblock. 5 blocks, 4 colours. Printed on Echizen Torinoko paper*.
• Dimensions: Sheet approx H: 67.00 cm × W: 66.00 cm (Image H: 55.00 cm × W: 54.75 cm).
• Condition: Beautiful. Clean & unmarked. Light surface handling to margin.
• Notes: Deep Darkness 3 was awarded Third Prize at the 14th Shell Art Award in 1970. An impression is held by the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, with another recorded in the Iwaki City Art Museum collection. *Artist watermark to margins. Raisonné No. 98, (W103). 黒崎彰の全仕事 (The Complete Works of Akira Kurosaki: Catalogue Raisonné 1965-2006).

About the Artist

Akira Kurosaki (1937-2019) was a pioneering mokuhanga artist who fused traditional Japanese woodblock techniques with bold abstraction and surreal landscapes, rendered in his signature deep reds, purples and blacks. A graduate of the Kyoto Institute of Technology and devoted to the sōsaku hanga ethos - overseeing every stage of production himself - he earned the Florence Biennale Gold Prize and Japan’s Order of the Sacred Treasure. From 1987 he taught and led the Printmaking Department at Kyoto Seika University, mentoring a generation of printmakers; his work is held by the British Museum, MoMA and the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. [ ← View All Works by Akira Kurosaki]