Rain Time

This 1915 print in the oban format captures a moment of rainfall, a subject that has inspired Japanese artists from Hiroshige's famous views of sudden showers to Hasui's rain-soaked temple scenes. Fritz Capelari's European eye interpreted the subject differently from his Japanese contemporaries, likely emphasizing the atmospheric effects of rain on visibility rather than the graphic pattern of falling lines that Hiroshige made iconic. The title "Rain Time" suggests a sustained downpour rather than a passing shower, an extended period during which the entire landscape is transformed by water. As an Austrian working with Watanabe's artisans, Capelari could rely on printers who had generations of expertise in producing the grey, wet tones that rain scenes demand, using multiple passes of diluted pigment to build up the misty quality of a rain-saturated atmosphere.