Twee karpers 1900 - 1930

Ohara Koson made this print of two carp sometime between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and it's like he caught a moment of underwater ballet. The water looks almost solid, and the fish, well, they're not just swimming; they're kind of dancing. I'm really drawn to the way Koson uses color and texture here. The scales of the lower fish are suggested with these tiny little marks, not quite lines and not quite dots, but somewhere in between. It's like he's trying to show us how light plays on the water and on the fish at the same time. The whole thing feels very immediate, like a quick sketch, but at the same time, it's so carefully considered. Look at how the top fish almost fades into the background. It makes me think of the way Hokusai played with perspective and color in his wave paintings. It's all about capturing a feeling, a mood, rather than just a picture of something. It makes you think about the fleeting nature of beauty and the way artists can capture these small moments in time.