November 1906 Possibly 1906 - 1920

Mitsutani Kunishiro made this woodblock print, November 1906, in Japan; it’s got this totally unique color palette. You see, there’s this muted green, a warm red, and these pops of autumnal yellows and browns that give it a really distinctive feel. The way Kunishiro uses color and the flatness of the woodblock give the piece a texture that feels both graphic and dreamlike. The deer have these crisp outlines and flat coats of brown. But look closer and you'll see the way he adds spots to their coats, a mix of precision and playfulness. It’s like he’s inviting you into this space that’s not quite real but feels deeply familiar. The leaves seem to float across the surface, not quite adhering to the logic of perspective, giving the work this timeless quality. It makes me think of Utamaro, with his focus on beautiful figures, but Kunishiro’s taken it somewhere new, more stylized and modern. It’s a reminder that art is this constant conversation, always building on what came before, yet finding its own voice.