Nana Shiomi: 見立て百景 (その3)「月」 (One Hundred Views of Mitate No.3: Moon (Tsuki))

Contemporary Woodblock Print

A fabulous print by Nana Shiomi: 見立て百景 (その3)「月」 (One Hundred Views of Mitate No.3: Moon (Tsuki)). A pale moon hangs against Shiomi’s deep earthen-red sky, while a river flows across the sharply perspective-drawn ochre ground below. (This appears to be an extension of the river form from Shiomi's previous work in the series #No.2: River (Kawa).

• Year & Edition: 1998 · Ed. 5/10 (signed, titled & editioned in pencil).
  
• Series: 見立て百景 (One Hundred Views of Mitate) · No.3.
  
• Medium: Woodblock.
  
• Dimensions: Sheet H: 46.00 cm × W: 46.00 cm (Image H: 34.00 cm × W: 34.00 cm).
  
• Condition: Mint. Well stored over the years.
  
• Notes: 見立て百景 (One Hundred Views of Mitate) is Nana Shiomi’s series of one hundred woodblock prints created between 1998 and 2016. Mitate (見立て) refers to seeing something familiar in a new way, or discovering another meaning within an established image or object. The moon has an especially deep presence within Japanese art, poetry and literature, frequently associated with observation, transience and the changing seasons. Here Shiomi strips this familiar motif back to its most elemental form and places it within her distinctive red-and-ochre pictorial space. Published in 1998 as No.3, Moon is one of the earliest works in the series and establishes many of the visual ideas that would continue throughout the following ninety-seven prints.

About the Artist

Nana Shiomi (b. 1956, Osaka) is a Japanese printmaker best known for her 見立て百景 (One Hundred Views of Mitate) series. Trained at Tama Art University and the Royal College of Art, Shiomi combines traditional Japanese woodblock methods with a contemporary approach to familiar cultural motifs, exploring ideas of reflection, reversal and mitate - seeing one thing through another. Her work is held by the Victoria & Albert Museum and British Museum, and in 2025 she was awarded Life Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers in recognition of her contribution to printmaking. [ ← View All Works by Nana Shiomi]