Crane in Agony

Art Historical Context

**Crane in Agony** is a vivid color woodcut print created in 1954 by Japanese artist Tadashi Nakayama. Now part of the National Gallery of Art’s Rosenwald Collection, this work exemplifies the enduring Japanese tradition of *moku-hanga* woodblock printing, in which the artist carves separate blocks for each color to build layered, luminous images. Nakayama’s mid-century prints often combined this centuries-old craft with a modern, expressive sensibility. Produced in the years following World War II, the print belongs to a period of cultural renewal in Japan, when artists revisited traditional...