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- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Image courtesy of
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
Description
This woodblock print by Kiyochika likely represents his engagement with seasonal subjects, which he treated throughout his career alongside urban views. Autumn or winter scenes allowed him to exploit the contrast between warm interior light and cold exterior darkness, a juxtaposition central to his kosen-ga aesthetic. Snow falling against a lamplit street or moonlight on frost-covered ground provided compositional occasions for demonstrating the range of his tonal vocabulary. The printing technique for such subjects required careful management of the white areas — either left as bare washi or printed with a pale grey register — to distinguish snow, mist, and bright sky from the surrounding deep tones.