Shimada 1906

Utagawa Hiroshige made this woodblock print, Shimada, sometime before 1858. I love how he builds the image with a pointillist technique using tiny dots for texture. It's almost like he's building the world one grain of sand at a time. The materiality of this piece is so interesting. It’s flat but full of depth. The water and the sky are made from the same blue, and this ties the composition together. If you look closely, you can see how he suggests the movement of the figures with just a few simple marks. Take that little tree at the bottom, for example. It's just a few strokes, but it totally works. Hiroshige was a master of landscape. His work reminds me a bit of Agnes Martin, in that they both use repetition and subtle variations to create a sense of calm and contemplation. Art is never about answers, it’s about posing questions, and I think Hiroshige does that beautifully.