Amsterdam

Amsterdam depicts the canal-laced cityscape that defined Ono's response to the Netherlands, likely arranging the gabled houses along a waterway with their reflection broken across the canal surface. The composition treats the architectural facade as a continuous frieze in the upper register, with the water below carved as broader planes that catch the bokashi-graded shadow of the buildings. Ono's approach to foreign subjects relied on the same technical practice as his Japanese views: blocks worked by hand, printed with a baren onto washi, color separated into a small number of clean planes. The choice of Amsterdam reflects the postwar generation's reengagement with European cities and ideas after a long stretch when international travel had been impossible. The print sits within the strand of his oeuvre that documents place - a strand running from the factories of 1930s Tokyo to the canals of postwar Europe, treated throughout with sober attention rather than picturesque effect.