Evening Glow at Ajiro 1939

Ito Shinsui made this woodblock print called "Evening Glow at Ajiro," and immediately I’m drawn to how the artist approaches color and form. There’s a real sense of process and material, with all of these layers of color, one sitting on top of another. What's interesting about this scene is how the foreground is rendered in such detail, with these almost architectural structures that are built right into the ocean. They almost function as a barrier into the rest of the painting, the horizon line that recedes into the distance, with soft touches of lavender and gray. I’m looking at the way the artist captures the texture of the water. All of these horizontal lines give it a sense of movement. I’m also reminded of Hiroshige, particularly his use of atmospheric perspective. But what sets Shinsui apart is this almost tactile quality, a sense of process that invites us to contemplate not just the image, but how it came to be.