New England Landscape I 1927

Yasuo Kuniyoshi made this print, New England Landscape I, using lithography, which is this amazing process a bit like drawing with grease on a stone. Look at how the marks build up, hatching and cross-hatching, almost like he’s knitting the image together. There’s a real tension between light and dark, the sky brooding with these dense, scribbled lines, versus the almost hopeful gleam on the buildings. I keep thinking about how the path pulls you in, but it’s also dissolving, blurring into the foreground. It’s so delicate, but then there are these really bold, almost crude marks, like in the tree stump at the front. The way he handles tone reminds me of Odilon Redon, using darkness to suggest rather than define. Ultimately, it feels like Kuniyoshi is after something more emotional than representational, a mood, a memory, a feeling of place that remains elusive.