Verzameling bladeren van Mikido Possibly 1934

Yamaguchi Hachikushi made this album cover, Verzameling bladeren van Mikido, with ink and colour on paper. It's all about subtlety, a whisper of colour and form. The paper has these pale dots, almost like raindrops, creating a soft, diffused background. Then, you see these delicate, almost ghostly, depictions of leaves. They're not trying to be botanically correct or anything. It’s like Hachikushi captured their essence with a few strokes. Look at how the leaves are placed. They seem to float, with their tips like delicate brushstrokes of colour. There is a sense of air and lightness, not weighed down by gravity. For me, that mark-making reflects a deep understanding and almost a Zen-like approach to capturing nature. This reminds me of other Japanese artists, like Hiroshige, who found beauty in the everyday and expressed it with such simplicity.