Untitled

Spatial depth is a persistent concern in Kiyochika's work, and this untitled abstract print likely explores how the woodblock medium can suggest three-dimensional recession through purely tonal and coloristic means. His study of Western perspective and his exposure to photography during the 1870s gave him tools for constructing illusionistic space that earlier [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) artists had approached differently, and abstract compositions offered a testing ground for these ideas removed from the legibility of a recognizable scene. The print may use broad tonal bands moving from dark foreground values to lighter background tones, or employ a color temperature gradient—warm tones advancing, cool tones receding—to create a sense of pictorial depth without representational content.