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- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Waseda University
- Image courtesy of
- Waseda University
Description
This unidentified Kiyochika woodblock print likely dates from the active middle phase of his career, spanning the late 1870s through the 1890s, during which he produced both his celebrated Tokyo atmospheric views and his extensive output of Sino-Japanese War reportage. In his topographic work, Kiyochika frequently depicted sites of Meiji modernization — railway bridges, gas lamps, brick buildings — rendered not as straightforward documentation but as occasions for studying how artificial light alters familiar spaces. His compositions in this mode often place modern infrastructure against night skies or misty riverbanks, using the new urban environment as raw material for an essentially Romantic investigation of light and atmosphere. The print technique in such works typically involves only a handful of blocks, with tonal complexity achieved through careful [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) rather than additive color layers.