Portret van een onbekende Japanse vrouw 1886 - 1940

Ivo Puhonny made this print of an unknown Japanese woman, probably in the early 20th century. I love how the graphic quality of the printmaking allows for these very simple blocks of color to create a complex image. It's all about the relationships between these colors, a very limited palette of blacks, reds, and grays. The woman's face, with its delicate features, emerges from a smooth, gray background, almost like she's peering through a window. Her kimono, patterned with stripes, has a wonderful flatness. The surface of the print feels almost untouched, preserving every line, every edge, allowing the viewer to see the woodblock almost in its pure form. Think about Japanese printmakers like Hokusai, and how Western artists adopted printmaking as a means of image making, this piece fits into that wider conversation. Art's not about answers, it's about keeping the conversation going.