Akira Kurosaki - 夢の軌跡 (Traces in the Dream)

Modern | Sōsaku Hanga Woodblock Print

A fabulous print by Akira Kurosaki: 夢の軌跡 (Traces in the Dream). Pale streaks drift diagonally across three dark horizontal fields, breaking into smaller fragments as they pass through the image. At the centre, two tapered black forms meet around a narrow opening that reads almost like a tear, fissure or eye - a small rupture within the repeated surface. The title Traces in the Dream feels especially apt here: the white marks appear like fragments of movement or memory, passing through the image and disappearing again. A major large-scale work from Kurosaki’s 1982 Traces series, where repetition, absence and reduced colour became central to the composition. ◼️◻️

• Year & Edition: 1982 · Ed. of 50 (20/50) (signed & titled in pencil to plate).
• Medium: Woodblock. 8 blocks, 4 colours. Printed on Echizen Torinoko paper.
• Dimensions: Sheet approx H: 95.50 cm × W: 67.00 cm (Image H: 79.00 cm × W: 54.75 cm).
• Condition: Image clean, crisp, & unblemished. Light surface handling to margin.
• Notes: Traces in the Dream belongs to Kurosaki’s important Traces series of 1981-82. Raisonné No. 320, (W304). 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]