Chiura Obata, "Early Spring"

Starting in 1956, Chiura Obata began production of a small series of woodblock prints in collaboration with Uchida Bijitsu Shoshi Han in Kyoto, one of the 20th century's most important publishers of woodblock prints. The works depict the Japanese garden of the Carr family, which they named "Shiho-en" meaning that its beauty can be appreciated from all directions. One design would be issued per year as Christmas cards sent to family and friends, and up to seven designs are said to have been completed, with five more only in proof form. 

Chiura Obata (1885–1975) was a Japanese-American artist and art professor known for his sumi-e ink paintings and woodblock prints of the American West, especially Yosemite. Born in Okayama, Japan, he immigrated to the United States in 1903 and taught at the University of California, Berkeley from 1932 to 1954. He was incarcerated during World War II at the Topaz War Relocation Center, where he also organized an art school.