Crows at full moon 1925 - 1936

Ohara Koson made this woodblock print of two crows against a full moon, and you can feel the care and the craft in every mark. The flat planes of colour, the stark contrast between the black birds and the pale moon, it all adds up to a really striking image. Woodblock printing is all about process. You have to carve each colour separately, and then layer them up to create the final image. Look closely and you can see how Koson has built up the feathers of the crows with these tiny, careful cuts. The texture is amazing! And then there's the moon, so simple, yet so luminous. It's like he's captured the very essence of moonlight. This reminds me a little of Hiroshige, particularly his print series "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo." There's that same sense of atmosphere, that same feeling of being transported to another time and place. Art is like that, it's an ongoing conversation, and there's always more to discover.