Monday, November 2, 2009

Hiroshige No. 1

A beautiful print by Japanese printmaker Hiroshige...the white tops of the waves, swaying back and forth, becoming more intense and wild as they meet the foreground...contrasting the subtle and calm background...The marks of the dark blue rolling up the waves and articulating the shape of the wave...

The visual style of the print is built off of the seen, but abstracted in memory, naturalistic in approach but injected with emotion, to grab the viewer at the deepest level...the duality of the talon like wave and the tree limbs bookend the picture plane...pushing to the eye into the asymmetrical background, we want to see Mt. Fuji, but are view is impeded, unable to fully realize is majesty.

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