Misty landscape
by Ito Takashi
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Source:
- Japanese Art Open Database
by Ito Takashi
$500–$5,000. Common landscapes: $500–$1,500. Key value factors: Ito Takashi's prints published by Doi Hangaten are the most sought after. Night scenes and snow views command premiums.
A landscape dissolves into soft gradients of gray and muted color in this oban woodblock print. Ito Takashi uses mist as both subject and compositional device, allowing it to obscure portions of the terrain and compress the visible depth of the scene. Trees, hillsides, or water features emerge partially from the haze, their forms suggested rather than fully defined. The woodblock technique serves this subject well: the bokashi (gradient) printing method, achieved by varying moisture and pressure across the block, produces the seamless tonal transitions that make printed mist convincing. Among Ito's landscapes, this print stands out for its willingness to subtract visual information rather than add it, trusting the viewer to complete what the mist conceals. The result is a study in the expressive power of what is withheld.
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Misty landscape was created by Ito Takashi (伊東孝).
Misty landscape depicts landscapes.
