The Rising Sun 1824

Curator: Standing before us is "The Rising Sun," a woodblock print made with ink by Hasegawa Settan around 1824. Editor: It strikes me as remarkably spare. The solid red orb dominates the composition. The calligraphic inscriptions create this sort of meditative and balanced tension above the boldness. Curator: Indeed. Formally, the contrast between the sharp, angular calligraphy and the simple curved sun immediately creates visual intrigue. This bold semi-circle arrests the eye. But I'm curious about what you make of the relationship between image and text? Editor: The text almost floats like clouds over the horizon line of the sun. It makes me wonder about themes of transience and constancy...perhaps reflections on fleeting thoughts against the immutable backdrop of nature. Considering it’s Ukiyo-e, it hints at a broader meditation of the transient world and pleasure in an uncertain period. The bright sun serves as a kind of hopeful counterpoint to the melancholic text. Curator: You touched on Ukiyo-e, or “pictures of the floating world.” Settan’s work can be interpreted within the wider context of Edo period Japanese printmaking. We can also appreciate this work as a political message, when factions clashed and promoted unique ideology, that influenced artistic interpretation as well. It invites consideration to think that Settan worked in troubled and uncertain eras of transition in Japanese socio-political environments. The cultural shift allowed arts like Ukiyo-e, born from its original function to advertise courtesans and theatrics, to be re-worked in refined forms. Editor: Looking closer, the visible woodgrain within the sun provides a tangible element, grounding the spiritual symbolism of the rising sun, as though the print acknowledges not only celestial events but also more earthbound artistic labor that has survived ages. It serves as reminder of how socio-cultural status may shift for common pleasures can be seen as high-value, historic forms of cultural art. Curator: So, despite its simplicity, “The Rising Sun” offers a rich formal experience by balancing stark contrasts of geometry with hand-scribed ink on a wood block, as you mentioned. And how political tides, and refined taste meet at the fulcrum. Editor: I found it quite moving to witness art history through structure and materials of this woodblock-print today!