Three Poplars

Yozo Hamaguchi first trained as a sculptor in Japan, but relocated to France in 1930, where he spent the next nine years studying and making art. It was during this period that he started making mezzotints, a process to which he was introduced by his friend, the poet e.e. cummings. The outbreak of World War II drove Hamaguchi back to Japan, but he returned to France in 1953 and devoted himself almost exclusively to mezzotint printmaking. Within a few years, his prints were winning international acclaim, and this success inspired him to continue refining and expanding his mezzotint skills.

The mature phase of Hamaguchi's career, from the mid-1950s onward, shows a well-integrated combination of Japanese and Western aesthetic sensibilities. His images often depict rather simple subjects, but with great subtlety and attention to evocative, rather than descriptive, visual effects. Three Poplars is an excellent example of Hamaguchi's extraordinary skills. The print features three elongated ovals- the poplars referred to in the title-floating on a field of undulating stripes. The dark stripes have depth and power, while the ovals look as if they are rips in the surface of the image, glowing from within.

In addition to Three Poplars, the donor, Bill Stein, gave the AMAM a color mezzotint -Green Poplars-and the four mezzotint copperplates the artist used to make the prints.