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Rain

Bertha Lum

American Art

Characteristic features of Japanese art that Bertha Lum incorporated in this landscape include the strong diagonal composition, dramatic leap from foreground to background, and theme of weather conditions. She also adopted traditional Japanese printing techniques, often employing native craftsmen to assist her. For instance, the hand-painting of the woodblocks (different blocks would be used for different colors) create subtle gradations of hue—particularly noticeable in the sky and sea—and a unique impression for each print.
MEDIUM Color woodcut on cream, thin, Japanese wove paper
DATES 1908
DIMENSIONS Sheet: 11 1/2 x 6 1/2 in. (29.2 x 16.5 cm) Image: 11 x 6 5/16 in. (27.9 x 16 cm)  (show scale)
MARKINGS Inscription: in pencil, bottom edge: "Copyright 1908 by / Bertha Lum"; "No / 190"
SIGNATURE Signed along bottom edge in pencil, "Copyright 1908 by / Bertha Lum / No / 1[9?]0" From Catalog Sheet: Signed, "Copyright 1908 by" in margin, "Bertha Lum" in lower center of composition
COLLECTIONS American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER 63.108.2
CREDIT LINE Gift of the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Bertha Lum (American, 1879–1954). Rain, 1908. Color woodcut on cream, thin, Japanese wove paper, Sheet: 11 1/2 x 6 1/2 in. (29.2 x 16.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, 63.108.2. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 63.108.2_PS1.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 63.108.2_PS1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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RIGHTS STATEMENT © Estate of Bertha Lum
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