Still Life Fruit

Fruit by Yasui Sōtarō is one of the important colored wood block prints that have helped link the Post-Impressionist West to Japan through its printing art. It was designed in cooperation with Hiratsuka Un’ichi, an eminent master carver for the sōsaku-hanga school of printmaking. This masterpiece represents the apogee of graphic art during the early Showa period. The design does away with perspective; three pears and a bunch of grapes are shown hanging against a plain background. Instead of table or cloth, there is only light ochre shade cast by the fruit. This painting is distinguished by its excellent linework. Every single fruit is outlined using a single, flowing line that bulges and contracts to create form. Inspired heavily by the architecture of space by Paul Cézanne, Yasui gives great importance to the geometry and essence of the subjects being painted. The blank paper pierces through the thin gold wash, creating contrast with the bunch of ovals of grapes. Through combining Western realism with Japanese aesthetics, Fruit becomes an exercise of pure lines, forms, and color balance. The classical red artists stamp makes an extremely striking point on the left, and it contrasts very well with the organic shapes. The lower right margin carries a signature done in pencil by the artist, and the work is identified as a lithograph limited edition number 159 of 300, printed in 1968.