Obata: Cascades Waterfall, Yosemite Silk Painting (Sold)

Artist: Chiura Obata (1885-1975)
Title: Cascades Waterfall, Yosemite (Painting on Silk)
Date: Undated, ca. 1940s

Important painting of two pines holding their ground in front of a Yosemite waterfall. The Cascades is the first major waterfall one encounters when entering Yosemite Valley via the Arch Rock entrance to Yosemite National Park. The falls occur at the merging of Cascade Creek and Tamarack Creek, and the drop of the falls is more than 500 feet. There are no trails that allow for a vista of the entire falls, so Obata must have hiked out onto the granite slopes nearby, sketchbook in hand. Obata has done justice to the falls, capturing the majesty of the vista, with the streaming water and mist masterfully depicted with almost no color at all, using negative space. Obata has rendered the rocks, the mist and the pine tree each with distinctive types of brushstrokes that give each element its own character.  Obata also seems to have added mica to the silk, as there is an extra sparkle that enlivens the surface of the work. Obata began his sumi-e training in Japan at the age of seven, and he learned how to create “color” variations using only black ink for the first seven years of his training. Obata also painted and sketched on paper every day of his life to keep the fluid precision of his brush through the decades of his career. However, formal works like this one on silk are surprisingly scarce. Provenance: Garzoli Gallery, San Rafael. This work is sold together with a custom frame that has hand-carved elements and a green silk mat.

Dimensions: 50 x 39.5 cm (plus mat and frame)
Seal: Artist’s seal
Signature: Chiura Obata

Condition: Very good condition. Sold with its handmade custom frame.

SKU: OBA019S