Details

Death Grave's Pass and Tenaya Peak by Chiura Obata captures the monumental calm of Yosemite’s high country with grace and restraint. The rounded mass of Tenaya Peak dominates the composition, its smooth, weathered surface reading like the quiet memory of a thousand seasons. At its base, a sparse gathering of trees rise from a landscape etched in ochre and stone, their forms thin and reaching, shaped by years of wind and snow. In the distance, a craggy summit punctuates the skyline, while above, a sky streaked with shifting cloud carries the quiet weight of altitude and approaching weather.

This woodblock print was produced in Tokyo in 1930 by the skilled artisans of the Takamizawa workshop, working under Obata’s direct supervision. The image is one of many in his World Landscape Series – America, a project that translated his American plein air watercolors into print through the careful choreography of carving and printing. Here, soft gradients and brush-like textures are preserved with unusual fidelity, lending the landscape both clarity and mood.

Connoisseur's Note

This image carries a rare sense of steadiness and introspection. While the title hints at the perilous or somber, the scene itself leans into balance and endurance—how landscapes wear time like a second skin. The trees at the mountain’s base, some upright and others waning, suggest the quiet tension between strength and fragility. And yet nothing is overstated. The print does not ask for awe, only for stillness and attention.

Obata’s vision here is not of a dramatic climax but of lasting presence. The sweep of stone and the thin air are rendered with such care that one almost hears the hush of wind moving between peaks. The effect is cumulative—a slow unfolding that invites reflection more than reaction. For collectors, this print is a meditation on scale, on endurance, and on the subtle power of landscape to hold memory without speaking it aloud.