Tugging Boats 1909 - 1910

Kamisaka Sekka’s “Tugging Boats” is a dance of shapes and lines, probably made with ink and colour on paper or silk. Look at how the artist simplifies everything, turning people into these rounded forms, like stones smoothed by water. There's a sense of weight and effort conveyed through the diagonal lines of the ropes, and the way the figures lean into their task. Notice the texture of the background, a soft, washy grey that makes the ochre and black of the figures pop. It's not about perfect representation, but about feeling the pull, the strain, the rhythm of labour. I'm reminded of Matisse's cut-outs. There's that same joy in reduction, in finding the essence of a thing through shape and colour. It's a conversation across time, this dance between artists, each finding their own way to say something essential about being human.