Our Torpedo Hitting a Russian Warship at the Great Naval Battle of Port Arthur 1904

Kobayashi Kiyochika made this woodblock print of a naval battle, with these swooping lines and bursts of colour. Can you imagine him, carving into the block, trying to capture the chaos and drama of the scene? The waves are alive, aren't they? Each line seems to pulse with energy, like the ocean itself is breathing. And then there's the torpedo, cutting through the water with a sense of purpose, leaving a trail of ghostly bubbles in its wake. I bet Kiyochika felt the weight of history on his shoulders as he made this, documenting a moment of intense conflict. It reminds me of Hokusai, another Japanese artist who was fascinated by the power of the sea. Artists are always in conversation, across time and space, borrowing and building on each other's ideas, and it all makes for such a rich, layered experience. I love the feeling that nothing is ever really finished, and we keep discovering new things in older works.