Hataori in Shiobara 1946

Hasui Kawase made this print, Hataori in Shiobara, and what strikes me is the orchestration of blues and blacks, a symphony of cool tones that really sets the mood. It feels like he's inviting us to understand art-making as a process, like a dance between intention and letting go. The texture here is all in the layering, the paper itself almost feels like it's breathing. Look closely, and you can see the individual marks, the way the ink sits on the surface, thick in some places, almost transparent in others. It is a blizzard, or maybe a dark sky. See the cozy warm glow of those window lights and the lines of the house and the road. That’s the heart of the scene. Kawase reminds me of other artists who were captivated by light and atmosphere, like Whistler, maybe. But Kawase brings his own sensibility, and his work, like all great art, invites us to linger, to question, and to find our own meaning in the spaces between the lines.