Cockatoo and pomegranate 1925 - 1936

Ohara Koson's Cockatoo and pomegranate print is a really beautiful demonstration of the traditional Japanese woodblock printing technique. There's this amazing contrast between the velvety black background and the cockatoo. The whiteness of the bird's feathers is so luminous! It's achieved through the layering of multiple impressions on the paper, isn't that cool? It reminds me of when I build up layers of paint on canvas, slowly coaxing out depth and texture, you know? If you look closely, each feather is carefully delineated, the fine lines giving a sense of volume and softness. I think this painstaking process is really in conversation with ukiyo-e traditions. And, as a painter, I find it fascinating how the different areas of the composition - the bird, the fruit, the branch, and the leaves - each receives its own kind of mark making to create this really beautiful sense of depth and texture. It has that feeling of the natural world rendered with a kind of stylized precision, like Hokusai's Great Wave, or something! It's a real reminder that art is always about taking something and making it your own.