Landschap met maan 1900 - 1910

Tsuda Seifû made this landscape scene, called "Landschap met maan," with woodblock printmaking, and it lives at the Rijksmuseum. Imagine the artist carefully carving those soft shapes, pressing the paper onto the block, then seeing how the image emerges. The colour palette is quite muted, with greys and greens that evoke a sense of calm and serenity. The way the trees fade into the background almost feels like memory or a dream. What was Tsuda thinking about as they were making this piece? About the cyclical nature of life or the quiet moments of contemplation? The layering of the trees in the background makes me think of the work of Gerhard Richter, actually. Ultimately, artists are always in conversation with each other across time and place. Woodblock printing offers a particular, textural way of seeing and experiencing the world. It reminds us that there are infinite ways to approach the same subject.