White Heron

A white heron (shirasugi) rendered in Kimura's contemporary woodblock technique — the long-legged white bird depicted in the spare, graphic manner that characterizes his approach to bird subjects. The heron's white form against a darker ground was a subject with deep roots in the kachō-ga tradition, and Kimura's modern treatment brings this classical subject into the register of contemporary art while preserving its essential visual drama: the stark white of the bird against the weight of the surrounding world.