Horikawa

The Horikawa is one of Kyoto's ancient urban canals, running north-south through the city and bordered for much of its length by traditional machiya townhouses and craft workshops. This 1966 etching and aquatint — an early work — shows Tanaka already drawn to the intersection of water and urban architecture that would define his mature practice. The canal's reflective surface and the compressed perspective of its banks create a view that is at once urban document and lyrical observation.