Details
The image
A crane drawn with a contour of even weight, wings opened, the body filled with flat colour, the background left as paper. The bird occupies the sheet almost entirely and the empty space around it is used as deliberately as the marks themselves.
Where it comes from
Nineteenth-century Japanese woodblock printing divided the work between designer, cutter and printer and the discipline of that division is visible in the result: contour first, colour second, no modelling. Birds and flowers were the standard subjects because they allowed the line to do its work without anecdote, a lesson European graphic art took from these prints and never returned.
On the wall
It suits a study, a bedroom or a reading corner, where a quiet image with generous space can be read closely. Because the palette is limited and the line is fine, it needs good light and a wall that is not too busy. In a group it should be the calmest piece.
In company
Pairs well with pale wood and other works on paper and it looks best in a light frame with a wide mount. If the wall is to hold another sheet, the rest of the Taguchi Tomoki collection follows the same rules.com/poster/taguchi-tomoki-woodblock-xi-poster/”>woodblock XI beside it makes the set read as a series rather than as a single picture.
