Details

In Blue Moon, Clifton Karhu conjures a crystalline winter night, where heavy snow drapes the tiled rooftops of Kyoto in thick, undulating waves. The circular frame of the composition recalls the traditional round windows (marumado) found in Japanese architecture — portals designed to blend interior and exterior worlds — while also subtly evoking the fan-shaped designs (uchiwa-e) of Edo-period prints. Through this gently curved lens, the viewer glimpses a quiet, intimate world: the slatted windows of a machiya house, the heavy boughs of a pine laden with snow, and a luminous full moon casting its pale, serene glow over the scene. Karhu’s masterful layering of blues — from soft frost to deep indigo — captures the deep hush and stillness of a world blanketed in silence, each tone vibrating with a restrained, almost musical clarity.

Created in 1999, Blue Moon reflects Karhu’s mature style, where bold compositions and subtle gradations of color harmonize to evoke both place and mood. Although an American by birth, Karhu’s aesthetic sensibility became deeply rooted in Kyoto’s historic landscape, and his prints speak with the assured fluency of an insider. His vision is not a mere reproduction of architecture, but a reverent meditation on the textures of old Japan — a tribute to the enduring grace of Kyoto’s winters, rendered through the clean, confident language of modern printmaking.

Connoisseur's Note

Clifton Karhu stands as one of the few Western artists to have mastered the traditional techniques of Japanese woodblock printing while infusing them with a distinctly personal voice. Living in Kyoto for most of his adult life, Karhu designed, carved, and printed his own works, fully embracing the Sosaku Hanga ethos of the artist's direct engagement with every stage of creation. His bold use of saturated color and rhythmic composition drew equally from the traditions of Japanese design and the influences of Western modernism.

This impression of Blue Moon, numbered 34/50, is a superb example of Karhu’s technical and artistic mastery. His ability to convey temperature, silence, and atmosphere through orchestrated tones of blue reveals a deep sensitivity to both material and subject. Collectors value Karhu’s prints for their harmonious blending of East and West, tradition and innovation — and Blue Moon stands as a luminous testament to an artist who, though foreign by origin, became one of Kyoto’s most eloquent visual poets.