Hiroshige
This print is a snowscape masterpiece. The quietude that pervades the night is excellently captured. No traveler dares to set forth on a journey and those who have come outside have done so out of necessity. One can almost hear the villagers' footsteps in the snow.
The holidays always bring a sense of nostalgia for winter nights spent gathering around the fire with friends and family over warm food and even warmer drinks. One of the most perfect expressions of snow ever accomplished in the arts is Utagawa Hiroshige’s Night Snow at Kambara. It depicts a quiet scene, and its strength lies in its stillness. There is almost no movement in Kambara, except for the crunching footsteps of three lonely travelers trudging towards what one hopes will be a warm room for the night.
This woodcut perfectly represents the unique Japanese aesthetic of wabi—literally “Japanese beauty”— the nostalgic, melancholy expression of a perfect moment of fleeting beauty within the everyday transitory world.
Happy Holidays, everyone!
P.S. Today we have a special treat for you. See here most beautiful representations of Christmas in Art. <3