Shuzo Ikeda, Girl with Rose, 2004

Artist: Shuzo Ikeda (1922–2004)
Title: Secret Rose
Medium: Woodblock print
Year: 2004
Edition: Limited edition
Image size: 16 × 14 cm
Paper size: 20 × 16 cm
Condition: Very good
Signed: Signed in plate / initialed lower right

Notes:
A late-period woodblock by Shuzo Ikeda, combining his characteristic feminine portraiture with a more intimate, graphic compression of space. Here, a young woman presses a finger to her lips in a gesture of silence or private thought, while a vivid rose blooms against her hair—an emblem of beauty, secrecy, and interior life.

The reduced scale gives the work an unusual immediacy. Ikeda’s elegant contour lines, softened pastel modeling, and restrained palette create a delicate balance between pop sensibility and traditional Japanese print design. The juxtaposition of the deep green ground and the crimson rose gives the composition a strong visual anchor, while the cropped profile heightens its psychological tension.

A compelling small-format example from Ikeda’s mature years, this print carries the quiet emotional charge and graphic sophistication that made his work so enduringly popular.