Woodblock Print by Konishi Seiichiro: Kneeling Female Nude, Framed

She turns away, one arm over her head. The print does the rest with very little.

Konishi Seiichiro, b. 1919, made this framed woodblock print, Kneeling Female Nude, in Japan, dated 1957, in ink on paper. Woodblock printing allowed mid-century Japanese artists to pare a figure down to flat color and a few decisive lines, a modern use of an old craft. Seen in profile, the figure kneels against a dark red ground, one knee raised, her bronze body edged in teal. The mat is cream and the frame gilded and dark. The image measures 23 inches high, and the whole 38.

Grain from the block shows through the red, as it should.