Kyoto Growing Dark (Kururu Kyō), 1969

Color woodblock print

36 13/16 x 25 inches (93.5 x 63.5 cm)

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Purchased with the Print Revolving Fund, 1969

1969-188-4

From a high vantage point above the roof tiles, the
viewer takes in Kyoto’s distinctive architectural landscape as portrayed here by Sekino, a member of the Sōsaku hanga or Creative Print movement. This 1969 print titled Kyoto Growing Dark is visually inviting with its abstract composition of plunging diagonals and intersecting planes. The combination of the title and the delicate slivers of light spilling onto the street conveys an atmosphere that is simultaneously intimate and yet mysterious.

Lin Zheng