Persimmon

Yozo Hamaguchi

The arc of Yozo Hamaguchi’s style began in traditional Japanese sculpture as taught by his professors at the Tokyo Art School, where he was exposed to the simplified, unencumbered shapes of folk art and the carved masks of Noh theater. A new chapter in his artistic evolution came with his move to France, where he learned Western art techniques and theories and was exposed to the lush, intricately detailed works of 17th century mezzotint. This medium would soon become his main focus of artistic expression.

In this lithograph “Persimmon,” the viewer can identify decades of these two schools of thought distilled into one deceptively simple image. The desire to achieve the most information with the least amount of clutter, while also employing the medium of lithography to simulate mezzotint, come together in Hamaguchi’s depiction of the prized Japanese fruit seen from two angles: head on, and from above. Hamaguchi chose not to trim the large sheet, creating a vast field of white on which the fruit is portrayed and lending a sense of loneliness or contemplation to the composition.