Obata: Evening Glow at Lyell Fork, Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite (SOLD)

Artist: Chiura Obata (1885-1875)
Title: Evening Glow at Lyell Fork, Tuolumne Meadows
Date: 1930

Astonishing watercolor-like image of a brilliant sunset sky above Tuolumne Meadow in Yosemite, brought to life as a print from 123 separate woodblock printings. Obata himself wrote of the scene “Man stands enthralled at the sight of the evening glow at Lyell Fork during the late summer when, for only a moment, the streaks of clouds in the sky are transformed to bars of brilliant gold. Tamarack [lodgepole] pines growing in profusion along the fork darken their shadows as the evening deepens. The Lyell Fork River runs southwest to the northwest of Tuolumne Meadows, the highest plateau in the Sierra.” (See Obata’s Yosemite, page 113). From the World Landscape series, the groundbreaking effort that Obata spent all his savings on creating with the highest possible standards. The project employed more than 32 Japanese carvers and 40 printers for eighteen months. In order to give the effect of a watercolor, scores of blocks were used for each design, and specially prepared paper was made. This dealer considers this series to be the finest examples of woodblock printing in the 20th century. The major retrospective “Chiura Obata: American Modern” would have just finished its final stop at the Smithsonian American Art Museum on May 25, 2020. Provenance: From the estate of Chiura Obata.

Publisher: Takamizawa
Literature: “Obata’s Yosemite” 1993, page 113. See Whitney Museum of American Art, Smithsonian American Museum of Art. Another example was exhibited at the Whitney in 2015-2016.
Signature: Signed in ink "Chiura Obata"

SKU: OBA107