Aoba Castle, Sendai 1933

Here, Hasui Kawase gives us Aoba Castle, Sendai, likely a woodblock print. Look how the gradations of color create depth and mood; that soft glow on the buildings against the deep blues and blacks of the night sky. Artmaking is always a process of layering, revealing, and concealing, and here, we see it in the way the ink is applied, one tone over another. The texture is smooth, almost velvety, because of the printmaking technique, but within that, there's such variation. The lines of the roof tiles are precise, architectural, while the clouds are more amorphous, dreamy. Notice how the artist uses light to define the shapes, casting soft shadows on the walls. It’s that balance between the concrete and the ephemeral that makes this image so compelling. Those shadows, cast by unseen branches, hint at a world beyond the walls. It reminds me of some of Hiroshige's nocturnal scenes. Like him, Hasui invites us to contemplate the beauty and mystery of the everyday. Ultimately, art is an invitation to see the world in different ways.