Fuji from Kurasawa 1929

This woodblock print, Fuji from Kurasawa, was made by Shotei Takahashi, who was born in Tokyo at the beginning of 1871. Imagine him carefully carving each line into the wood, inking it, and then pressing it onto paper. What patience! Looking at that mountain, serene and snow-capped, I wonder what Shotei Takahashi was thinking? Was he contemplating nature, or just trying to make a living? The way he's rendered the water, calm but with these little flicks of dark blue, makes me feel like the air is still and heavy. The trees in the foreground, with their simple silhouettes, make the mountain feel even more massive and majestic. It reminds me of Hokusai's work. There’s a conversation happening across time, artists looking at mountains, trying to capture their essence. Shotei Takahashi wasn’t trying to trick us with realism; he was trying to convey a feeling. That’s what painting is all about, right?