Matsusuke as Goroji 1920

Yamamura Toyonari made this woodblock print, Matsusuke as Goroji, and what strikes me is the way the lines seem to exist in two different worlds. See how the actor's face is rendered with soft gradations, almost like a watercolor? But then his garment is all these crisp, parallel lines! I'm reminded that woodblock printing is all about process, the patient labor of carving and layering. Look closely at the actor's hands, how they clutch the letter like it holds his fate. Toyonari's choice to switch between soft and hard lines gives the work a subtle tension; it's like he's thinking about both the surface and the depths of this character, how appearances can be deceiving. Artists like David Hockney, with his clean lines and flattened perspectives, share this interest in capturing the complexities of appearance. In the end, art is always a question mark, inviting us to look and look again.