Stone Bodhisattva in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Hiratsuka Un’ichi was one of the major figures to emerge from the sosaku hanga (creative print) movement in Japan. He taught printmaking at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts from the inception of its Department of Printmaking in 1935. His mature period is characterized by prints done in black ink only, a style that sprang from his appreciation for the Japanese traditions of ink painting and line drawing.

His subjects vary a great deal but include Buddhist images, monuments, and portraits of friends and family members. He made this work after his 1966 move to Washington, D.C., the city that would be his home for most of the next 30 years.

In 1962 Hiratsuka traveled to the United States for the first time to visit his daughter in Washington, DC, and ended up settling there for 33 years. He could often be seen around the city, sketchbook in hand, drawing the buildings and sculpture he encountered. Here, in one of his largest works, we see a stone bodhisattva in the Freer Gallery of Art. He remained interested in the historic monuments of Asia—especially Buddhist sculpture—throughout his life.