Untitled

This untitled Kiyochika print, identified by its abstract subject classification, may represent one of his compositional studies in which spatial structure is conveyed entirely through the contrast of light and dark masses rather than through linear perspective or descriptive line. Kiyochika was among the first Japanese printmakers to absorb the Western understanding that light, not outline, defines form in space. His exposure to photography, then rapidly proliferating in Meiji Japan, also informed his interest in the way that a single light source flattens or reveals surrounding objects selectively. The [oban](/glossary/oban) format typical of his work allowed sufficient field for these tonal orchestrations to develop across the picture plane.