Fujikawa 1906

This print, Fujikawa, was made by Utagawa Hiroshige. The scene is built from subtle layers of color, each one printed on top of the other. There's a beautiful gradation in the sky, a kind of hazy, pinkish grey, which is then mirrored in the landscape below. Looking at the group of travelers resting in the foreground, you can almost feel the weight of their exhaustion. Hiroshige's really good at capturing a sense of atmosphere. The whole scene feels so peaceful and still, despite the fact that you know this is a well-trodden road. Look closely at the trees. The way the leaves are rendered with these delicate, almost scribbled lines makes them feel alive. Hiroshige reminds me a little bit of Morandi, that Italian painter, in the sense of how he's able to find something monumental in the everyday. Art's like a conversation, artists are always borrowing, responding, and twisting what came before. Anyway, that's just one way of seeing it. What do you think?