Birds and Flowers 1683

Hishikawa Moronobu created this woodblock print, Birds and Flowers, in Japan during the late 17th century. The image is achieved through a relief printing process: the artist would have painstakingly carved away the negative space from a block of wood, leaving only the lines of the design in relief. Ink was then applied to the raised surface and pressed onto paper. The linear quality of the print stems directly from this method. Notice the stark, confident outlines defining the cranes' bodies and plumage. The flat planes of color, likely added using separate blocks for each hue, emphasize the image's graphic nature. Woodblock printing was not just a technique, but an entire industry supported by artisans and publishers. Prints like these were relatively affordable, making art accessible to a wider audience. This reflects a shift towards a more commercialized art world, tied to new patterns of consumption and leisure in the Edo period. Appreciating this print involves understanding not only the image itself, but also the intricate and collaborative production process that brought it into being.