Untitled

An untitled work classified as abstract, this print by Kiyochika demonstrates the degree to which his atmospheric technique could produce compositionally autonomous results independent of subject matter. His systematic exploration of light-and-shadow contrasts in the kosen-ga series required him to develop a reliable set of technical procedures for translating observed light conditions into woodblock compositions. These procedures—the proportional relationship between pigmented and unpigmented areas, the direction and density of [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations, the color relationships used to distinguish warm and cool light—could in principle be applied to compositions that did not anchor their light effects in identifiable urban or natural settings. The resulting work, lacking a landscape or cityscape to provide spatial orientation, functions as a study in chromatic and tonal relations.