Egret in rain 1900 - 1930

Ohara Koson made this print of an egret in the rain sometime before 1945, and I wonder how many times he shifted the block on the paper to get that soft, moody light. I can almost feel him, in his studio, patiently layering each colour like a memory. Those vertical lines of rain - not aggressive, not even particularly wet, but more like atmosphere - give this such a delicate feeling. I bet Koson thought a lot about the Japanese masters, maybe even looked back to the ink painters of China for inspiration. The egret itself, so still and white, is like a moment of clarity amidst the storm. It’s amazing how much quiet emotion can be captured with so few moves. It feels like the artist is saying, "Even in the rain, there's beauty and stillness if you know where to look”. It makes you wonder what he saw when he looked out the window, and how that vision became this gentle, enduring image.