Stones

Stones — ishi — appear in Tanaka's 1968 etching and aquatint as autonomous subjects rather than incidental details of architectural or landscape compositions. Garden stones, pathway paving, or foundation stones gathered over centuries: each carries its own accumulated weathering, its own particular relationship to water and moss and light. The aquatint technique suits this subject especially well, allowing Tanaka to render the tonal complexity of stone surfaces with a subtlety that pure etched line cannot achieve.