Edutainment > 36 Views of Green Island (11) - The Lookout

Tom Kristensen, born 1962, is a young artist from Australia who works in the tradition of Japanese woodblock prints. On this page he describes his print work 'Lookout' from the series of '36 Views of Green Island'.

by Tom Kristensen

Prints by Tom Kristensen
Green Island - Lookout
copyright Tom Kristensen

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The Lookout - No. 11

In this print I have touched on the use of western technique in the Japanese print. In the 1820s a new type of Prussian blue pigment was introduced from Europe to Japan. There followed a twenty-year craze for prints done almost exclusively in shades of blue. These aizuri-e were pictures of landscapes, fûkei-ga, and pictures of beautiful women, bijin-ga. Western conventions of realistic representation were also introduced when Japanese artists began to see printed pictures bought from Europe.

The Japanese style was rich in flowing lines, textile patterns and areas of flat colour. There was usually a limited sense of depth to the picture, and figures were highly decorated and two-dimensional.

The Western style had perspective based on the use of the vanishing point and volume created through light and shade, chiaroscuro.

Chiaroscuro

Video - Tom Kristensen

Video - Tom Kristensen
Click for Video
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The Japanese were quick to adopt perspective in pictures of buildings, known as uki-e. They were less inclined to chiaroscuro. It is early morning and Madeleine stretches while checking the surf from a lookout high on the headland. I have used chiaroscuro to suggest the rising sun over the island. The blue bokashi is used to give shape to her torso. The post and rail of the lookout are seen in perspective. The heavy timber grain was created by replicating the structure in miniature from soft cedar timber glued to a printing block. The ocean is not illustrated, but is still the focus of the view.

Tom Kristensen, April 2005
(edited by Dieter Wanczura, updated October 2009)

Video Presentation of Tom Kristensen

We produced a video with a short presentation of Tom Kristensen. Please click on the image or on the link to go to the video page.

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