Crane, Turtle and Pine - New Year's Greeting Card 1931

Unichi Hiratsuka made this New Year's greeting card with a woodblock print, and look how elegantly he's worked with a limited palette. I love the crane, turtle, and pine rendered in such dynamic angularity. I can imagine him carving away at the block, each cut a decisive act, removing what isn't needed to reveal these auspicious symbols. The ink, when applied, doesn't blend or smudge; it's either there or it isn't. It's stark, like a conversation held in black and white, but it creates such clarity of form, such a compelling graphic statement. He is working in such a rich tradition of printmakers. Each one building upon the language of the previous generations, a lineage carved in wood and ink. A kind of collaboration through time. They ask us to consider how graphic marks communicate feeling. It really gets you thinking about how we interpret and find meaning in simple gestures.