Cormorant Fishing 1954

This is 'Cormorant Fishing' by Hasui Kawase, a woodblock print. You can see the artist is all about process, layering colors to build up depth, especially in the water and sky, which feel so alive. It's not just about what you see, but how you see it. Look at the way the light from the lanterns reflects on the water. It’s this amazing dance of orange and black, broken up into all these little textured marks. Kawase isn’t trying to trick us into thinking this is reality, but he's showing us how he sees the world, a place of shimmering surfaces and inky shadows. This tension between light and dark gives the piece a kind of emotional electricity. He reminds me of Whistler, in the way he captures these nocturnal scenes with such atmosphere. But Kawase has his own thing going on, this graphic punch that’s all his own. Art’s like that, right? An ongoing conversation.