Eend op besneeuwde boomstronk 1900 - 1910

Ohara Koson made this woodblock print of a duck on a snowy tree stump, sometime between 1900 and 1936. It’s like a haiku in visual form – a simple scene, rendered with incredible sensitivity. You can almost feel the crispness of the winter air. The thing that gets me about Koson's work is his ability to make the ordinary feel extraordinary, especially in the way he handles the textures. The duck’s feathers are so detailed, so delicate. Look at the individual strokes that define the shape of the wing, it's almost calligraphic. Then there's the snowy tree trunk, which is rendered in these soft, muted greys and whites. The contrast between the bird and its perch is striking. Koson reminds me a bit of some of the German Expressionist painters. They shared that interest in nature, and the way that nature can reflect our inner emotional states. But I reckon Koson is all his own. He takes the natural world and transforms it into something that feels both familiar and otherworldly. And like all good art, it leaves you with more questions than answers.