The Stone Garden (Sekitei), 1959

Color woodblock print

18 x 23 inches (45.7 x 58.4 cm)

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of
Albert J. Caplan, 1959  

1959-144-2

The bold colors used in this print to represent the stone garden at Ryōanji Temple in Kyoto typify the works of Kawanishi. Thought to be one of Japan’s earliest rock gardens, the site is considered a historic landmark and counted among Japan’s most beautiful places. The scattered rocks in a bed of raked sand are often interpreted as a seascape of islands in the ocean. Here, Kawanishi uses embossing to express the texture of the sand.

Harrison Schley