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- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Image courtesy of
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
Description
An untitled print demonstrating Kiyochika's sustained interest in transient atmospheric effects, likely from his prolific early-to-middle Meiji period when his reputation for kosen-ga was established. His compositions in this vein frequently organize pictorial depth through light zones rather than through conventional spatial recession, positioning a luminous source—fire, lantern, moon, or gaslight—at or near the compositional center and allowing the surrounding forms to dissolve into graduated darkness. The oban format typical of his landscape and urban views permitted a horizontal sweep of sky and land or water that amplified these lighting contrasts. Printed on absorbent washi using water-based pigments, the gradations of tone across open sky areas represent a technical achievement distinct from the flat color fields of earlier nishiki-e production.