Bell Tower in the Rain at Okuyama 1947

This is a woodblock print by Hasui Kawase, called ‘Bell Tower in the Rain at Okuyama’. You know, the interesting thing about a print is that it is both an image and a process. The blue-grey wash suggests the rain, but it also suggests the weight of the blocks pressing on the paper. Look closely at how the artist makes use of the various tones here. What do you think it feels like? I feel a kind of stillness in it; a feeling that the everyday is held within something very grand. There is a quiet beauty in the bell tower. Even the reflections on the floor are suggestive of a different kind of reality. Looking at this, I am reminded of other printmakers such as Hiroshige. The idea of the print as a multiple opens up a conversation across time. It’s about the possibility that images can be revisited, not fixed. Just like a bell ringing over and over again.