Cemetery at Numazu

Walter Padgett

Plate 13 from the series Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido, featuring hakaishi - family tombstones - in a tidy Buddhist cemetery. Seen reflected on the polished granite face of one such hakaishi is the snowy peak of Mt. Fuji; the city of Numazu in central Japan is sometimes referred to as the gateway to Mt. Fuji.

Padgett wrote about his color woodcuts: "Travel and adventure being essential to my selection of imagery, I consider myseld a Western artist of the Pacific Rim, inspire by the landscape and cultures on both sides of the Pacific. As a woodblock printmaker I am also a follower of the Sosakuhanga Movement, in which the artist attempts to master all of the processes that for centuries were accomplished collaboratively by skilled artisans, each specializing in part ofthe process - publisher, carver, printer, paper prepare, marketer, salesman... I find please in all stages - like image engineering - and am always delighted and surprised by the magical results."

When the gallery wrote to Walter Padgett about his editions and especially the s/p annotations on a number of them, the artist provided this response:

'The "s/p" notation on many of my prints stands for "state proof," indicating that a final edition has not been initiated. The few Tokaido prints that I have actually begun editioning have all been set at 200.

'Because of the beautiful nature of this medium, and the complexity of many of my prints--requiring many blocks, layering of color--and my nature as an artist, I enjoy exploring many possibilities in color scheming and am reluctant to decide on a "final" version requiring no further revisions or improvements. I like to study the prints, see how others respond to them, try them out in the marketplace, so I will print ten or twenty at a time indicate an "s/p" on them and show them. I keep records of my printing.' Find a full description of his editioning practice in our artist's biography (link above).