Sunset Glow at Tsukishima by Takashi Ito

A second rendering of the sunset view at Tsukishima, this oban woodblock print revisits the Tokyo Bay landfill island under evening light. Ito Takashi returns to the subject with variations in atmospheric condition or viewpoint that distinguish this version from his other Tsukishima print. The woodblock technique's layered color passes build the sunset sky through successive transparent applications of warm pigment, each pass intensifying the chromatic saturation. Tsukishima's character as a working waterfront neighborhood, with its mix of residential, fishing, and light industrial structures silhouetted against the western sky, gave Ito a subject that was simultaneously urban and elemental. The artist's decision to depict the same location more than once follows a long tradition in Japanese printmaking of returning to favored subjects under different conditions, treating place as a constant against which the variables of light and weather play out.