Night Flights presents a nocturnal landscape, likely depicting the movement of insects, birds, or bats through tropical darkness — a subject with particular resonance in the rich biodiversity of Southeast Asia. Kiggell deploys the deep, saturated dark grounds achievable through multiple applications of water-based pigment in mokuhanga, against which lighter forms trace their paths through the composition. [Bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations modulate the sky from dense indigo into softer passages, a technique with strong precedent in Japanese landscape prints. The [washi](/glossary/washi) support, with its slight luminosity and fibrous texture, gives the night sky a characteristic warmth absent from Western printmaking papers.
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Night Flights was created by Ralph Kiggell.
Night Flights uses Washi, on mokuhanga on washi.
Night Flights depicts landscapes and night scenes.
