Staring

Staring is a study built around a single arrested gaze, the kind of close observation that became central to the cat and animal portraits popularized by Utagawa Kuniyoshi and carried forward by later printmakers such as Fukami Gashu. A composition organized around the eyes asks the woodblock carver to handle very small areas of detail---irises, pupils, the fine line of a lash or whisker---against broader passages of fur or ground that can be printed in flatter, more graphic tones. In mokuhanga this contrast is typically resolved by reserving the keyblock for the precise linework around the face and eyes, while colour blocks supply mass and atmosphere, sometimes with [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradation to suggest soft fur or shadow. Within Fukami's documented output, which leans toward intimate animal subjects, Staring exemplifies the shift away from the elaborate narrative [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) of the Edo period toward smaller, more contemplative studies that nonetheless retain ukiyo-e's interest in the expressive face.