Kudan Usuguré. Twilight at Kudan 1938

Koshiro Onchi made this woodblock print, Twilight at Kudan, sometime in the early twentieth century. The thing that hits me first is the colors, that muted palette, kind of hazy, and that mustardy yellow giving a real feeling of dusk. The texture here is all about the layering of color, the way the buildings in the background kind of dissolve into each other, like how memories blur. I like the way that the composition seems to be split into two parts, divided by the light yellow path. The person standing at the bottom of the print is in shadow, looking on at the memorial in the distance. The lines of the buildings behind have been simplified but still manage to convey a sense of depth and urban space. Onchi was really interested in how printmaking could express personal feelings, just like the German Expressionists, like Kirchner. He shows us that a print can be just as expressive and personal as a painting.