Aizu in Winter 1938

Kiyoshi Saito captured Aizu in Winter with what looks like woodblock prints in shades of grey, black, and white. I wonder what it was like for Saito to create such a work! There's something about the layering of monochrome blocks that just cuts to the chase. Look at the big shapes of snow on the roofs and the fields, the way they contrast with the dark shapes of the houses and figures. What was it like to be Kiyoshi Saito, thinking about tonal values in the snow? It makes me think about the way Japanese artists like Hiroshige and Hokusai used woodblocks to create an image of a place, a view on the world. The people walking away into the distance seem to be swallowed up by the landscape! There's so much quiet intensity in this simple image. It reminds me that painting, like all art-making, is a way of seeing and feeling the world around us.