Fuji vanaf het dorp Narusawa 1936

Hasui Kawase made this print, Fuji vanaf het dorp Narusawa, and, just look at that mountain: it looms, right? It emerges from a haze, or maybe clouds, as the focal point behind a simple thatched-roof house. I wonder what it was like for Kawase to find this view, what he might have been thinking as he carved the blocks and laid down the colours. The lines of the field almost pull your eye into the scene, and then up, up, up to the distant peak. The colours are so soft, so muted – it’s like a memory, a moment captured in time. I like the simplicity of the composition; it reminds me of some of my own paintings, where I try to strip things down to their essence. The surface of the print has a gentle texture, a kind of quiet hum that makes you want to lean in close and just breathe it all in. It’s like a conversation between the artist and the viewer. The mountain, the house, the field, us… a slow exchange of ideas and feelings across time.