Details

This luminous woodblock print by Chiura Obata captures the ethereal majesty of Rainbow Falls, located in the Inyo National Forest of California’s Sierra Nevada. Rendered with a master’s hand, the image conveys both the monumentality of the sheer cliffside and the delicate spectacle of refracted light, where a fine rainbow arcs into the mist rising from the cascade’s base. The vertical drop of the falls is carved with clarity, the water depicted as a shimmering veil that dissolves into a frothing pool of aquamarine and ultramarine swells—brilliantly expressive of both energy and serenity.

Produced in Tokyo by the distinguished Takamizawa publishing house, this work belongs to Obata’s celebrated “World Landscape Series – America.” It was printed under Obata’s direct supervision during his 1930 visit to Japan, during which he collaborated closely with master carvers and printers to transform his plein-air watercolors into woodblock impressions. Obata’s syncretic vision—rooted in Nihonga traditions but deeply informed by his American experiences—lends the print its transcendent quality, where Westen realism merges seamlessly with Eastern poetic inspiration.

Connoisseur's Note

Chiura Obata’s Rainbow Falls is more than a landscape; it is a spiritual paean to the elemental harmony of water, stone, and light. The rainbow—ephemeral yet arching with divine clarity—evokes both Shinto reverence for natural phenomena and a Buddhist awareness of impermanence. The saturated mineral hues of the cliff wall, rendered with subtle gradation, echo the Japanese aesthetic principle of shibui—quiet elegance with hidden depth.

Obata’s rare ability to bridge two worlds—East and West—is exquisitely demonstrated here. While the subject is American, the technique and sensibility are steeped in Japanese tradition. Each line and wash, each nuance of ink and baren pressure, speaks to the artist’s reverence for nature and his lifelong endeavor to translate the sublime into form. Collectors of Obata’s work recognize in this print not only technical brilliance but a window into the artist’s soul, disciplined yet expansive, rooted yet soaring.