Details

In Stone Buddha of Usuki, Un’ichi Hiratsuka renders the ancient stone carvings of southern Japan with a stark, reverent simplicity. Against a background of crumbling textures and fragmented forms, the central Buddha’s serene face emerges with profound clarity — its closed eyes, gentle features, and tranquil composure evoking a timeless spiritual presence. Carved in bold, rhythmic strokes of black against the natural tone of the paper, Hiratsuka distills the monumental quietude of the site into an image that feels both weightless and eternal.

Completed in 1940, this print reflects Hiratsuka’s mature style, where the reductive power of line and the raw vitality of hand-cut forms converge. Rather than striving for photographic accuracy, he captures the emotional atmosphere of the stone Buddhas: the way they have endured centuries of weather and human gaze, becoming less icons of dogma than witnesses to the passage of time. The crackled surfaces and broken fragments surrounding the serene faces suggest not decay, but the deep beauty of impermanence (mujō), a central principle of Japanese aesthetic philosophy.

Connoisseur's Note

Hiratsuka stands among the founding figures of the Sosaku Hanga ("creative prints") movement, where the artist controlled every step of creation — from carving to printing — to ensure complete personal expression. In Stone Buddha of Usuki, Hiratsuka's mastery of the woodblock medium is fully evident: the confident, unembellished cuts of his knife echo the chisels that first carved the Usuki Buddhas from stone in the 12th century. His print achieves a rare fusion of historical reverence and modernist abstraction.

Prints from Hiratsuka’s early period are especially prized for their raw energy and clarity of vision. Stone Buddha of Usuki occupies a key place in his oeuvre, reflecting both a deep engagement with Japan’s spiritual and artistic heritage and a bold commitment to formal innovation. For collectors, it represents not merely an image of a sacred site, but a profound meditation on endurance, transience, and the silent eloquence of stone made living through wood and ink.