Spring Outings

         Here are two wood block prints depicting people enjoying the beauties of springtime.  First is a wonderful piece by Wang Qi (China, 1918-2016).  The people are small but they are fairly detailed, and they have plenty of character in their postures even though their faces are too small to have features.  What I really love, however, is the trees.  The trunks have gorgeous textures, the branches have wonderful sweeping gestures, and the silhouettes and outlines balance perfectly against the background patterns of leaves and white sky.  This is a completely everyday scene of ordinary people going about their lives beside various buildings (even if the buildings do have interesting Chinese architecture), but the harmony of the composition and carving elevates it to a quiet celebration.

        A second piece on a similar theme is by Hiroshige (Japan, 1797-1858), but this time the waterway takes center stage.  There are once again tiny people gathered on the shores enjoying the flowering of the spring trees, but for the most part these trees are much less detailed or distinctive.  My favorite is the weeping tree in the middle with its sparkling white blossoms.

        I definitely prefer the emphasis on pattern and texture to the emphasis on washes of color, but I’m not going to complain about anyone who celebrates the beauty of springtime - and the importance of going outside to enjoy it - through the medium of block printing.

[Pictures: Spring Outing, woodcut by Wang Qi, 1979 (Image from Ashmolean);

Fukagawa hatiman yamabiraki (Open Garden at Fukagawa Hachiman Shrine), wood block print by Hiroshige, 1857 (Image from Library of Congress).]