Print of an orange set of disjointed hands intertwine over a blue snap pea tree with jagged and sharp foliage. In between the two hands are three finger fragments.

Naoko Matsubara 松原直子

Drop of Life

Maker

Naoko Matsubara 松原直子 (Japanese, b. 1937 in Shikoku, Japan)

Title

Drop of Life
from the portfolio Solitude

Year

1971

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

woodcut

Supports

Dimensions

39.5 cm (15 9/16 inches) (length)

Identification

Edition

67/200

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Ames

Object Number

2001.91.11

Type

Exhibition History

Being and Believing in the Natural World
Perspectives from the Ancient Mediterranean, Asia, and Indigenous North America
Oct 22, 2022 – Jun 04, 2023

Label copy

These expressive woodcut illustrations articulate the serenity central to the 1854 book Walden, Henry David Thoreau’s idealized account of life on Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. More than a century later, Matsubara was also inspired by New England’s natural beauty. Here a willow tree merges with its own reflection, emphasizing a sense of isolation, while hands reaching for peapods highlight fleeting moments of abundance. Vigorous lines energize these illustrations, giving them life.

—WC

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Tombstone

Naoko Matsubara 松原直子 (Japanese, b. 1937 in Shikoku, Japan)
Drop of Life; from the portfolio Solitude, 1971
Woodcut on hōsho paper
39.5 cm (15 9/16 inches) (length)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Ames 2001.91.11

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