Village with lighthouse

A village with a lighthouse, rendered in etching and aquatint from 1970, represents one of Tanaka's relatively rare excursions to the Japanese coastline. The combination of domestic architecture and navigational tower creates a compositional subject that speaks to the particular character of fishing communities, where the lighthouse serves as both practical instrument and defining landmark of the settlement's identity. The aquatint medium allows him to suggest the atmospheric moisture of a coastal setting.