[1] Hamaguchi's prints are distinguished for their careful attention to detail of boldly hued animals and objects contrasted against a velvety black background.

[5] While the family's wealth mainly derived from their centuries-old business, Hamaguchi's lineage demonstrated a long-held appreciation for the arts as his father was an avid collector of Nanga, Edo-period literati paintings.

Eventually, Hamaguchi became more intent on a career as an oil painter and regularly created sketches and preparatory drawings for his planned paintings.

[10] In 1937, Hamaguchi tried his hand at mezzotint and produced his first image, Cat, in which the titular subject is shown reclining with its front paw extended in an indiscernible white space.

Hamaguchi's newfound artistic inspiration in Paris was interrupted by the start of World War II in 1939, and he subsequently returned to Japan.

Originally completed in black and white, Hamaguchi began to insert vibrant colors into his mezzoint prints that imbued them with an energetic liveliness.

Roofs of Paris (1956) was one of Hamaguchi's first colored mezzotints, and the innovativeness of his style is evident in the windowless rectangular and trapezoidal buildings that appear stacked or positioned in seemingly infinite rows.

He employed non-localized colors as chimneys and edges of the roofs are depicted in blue, white, and light brown hues over blackened structures.

In 1957, he received the Grant Prize of the International Printmaking Division at the São Paulo Biennial for three prints: Fish and Fruits (1954), Sole (1956), and Two Slices of Watermelon (1954).

[13] Global enthusiasm for Hamaguchi's mezzotints led to his selection as the artist to design the official poster for the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics, to which he incorporated his print Cherries and Blue Bowl (1976).

[15] Mezzotint printmaking originated in 17th century Europe and was distinguished for its incorporation of halftones in which gradations of light and shade produced forms instead of lines.

[18] However, Hamaguchi's innovative approach in the modernization of mezzotint was based on his placement of colorfully illuminated objects that appeared to emerge from a blackened void.

Historically, most artists who employed mezzotint utilized etching in their creative process, whereas Hamaguchi preferred to cut lines into a copper plate before he applied acid.

Similar to other printmakers, mezzotint was a lengthy process that meant each copper plate could take as long as several months for Hamaguchi to complete.

Art consultant Marjorie Katzenstein describes Hamaguchi's prints as embodying a “romantic surrealism” based on his ability to render isolated still life objects with vigor and luminosity.