View of Incoming Ships at Tsukuda Island c. 1840 - 1842

This print, View of Incoming Ships at Tsukuda Island, was made by Utagawa Hiroshige using woodblocks and colored inks. Notice how the woodblock medium lends itself to bold outlines and flat planes of color. Wood is a relatively inexpensive material, and lends itself to a multiplication of images. But of course, that doesn't mean it's without skill. The key block, which carries all of the image’s linework, would have required a master carver. He would have painstakingly transferred the artist's original drawing onto a plank of wood, then carefully cut away the negative space. The other blocks, each corresponding to a different color, would also have been carved with great precision. In fact, Hiroshige worked with a whole workshop of artisans, each fulfilling a different function. So, the print isn’t just the product of one artist’s vision. It’s the result of many hands, and we can see that collaborative process reflected in the final image.