Death of a Samurai is a rich, deeply etched intaglio image with tonal aquatints enhanced by its substrate of brown pigmented paper and sepia ink application. The samurai lineage of the artist’s family influences his imagery, which in part, is a revolutionary figure created while Nakashima was reading about the life of Musashi Miamoto.

Nakashima is an American-Japanese internationally renowned painter and printmaker, the great-grandson of a samurai warrior, and nephew of furniture legend George Nakashima. As in this print, “Nakashima often reaches into the past to bring clarity and resolution to complex feelings. He is a man of two worlds—both East and West—yet he constantly seeks a balance between them. And though he is not religious, his work is luminous with spiritual import.” (Giorgio Furioso, TERZO PIANO Gallery )

This print can be found in the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s permanent collection, along with Nakashima’s large painting, Sanctuary at Western Sunset, 1992.

Papermakers: Helen Frederick, Assistants
Printers: Tom Nakashima, Susan J. Goldman, Ed Bernstein, Assistants

Learn more about the artist:
tomnakashima.art