A Warm Day in October

Description

The viewer looks over houses in the village of Asuka, an official historic town, which has led to the preservation of its historical sites. The title indicates that the day depicted is a pleasantly comfortable one in autumn, and could also be translated to Indian Summer, in English. Though subtle, the general atmosphere reflects this as well, and it is one of Nishijima Katsuyuki’s strengths as an artist to be able to capture the gradual changes through the progression of days, seasons and weather. This woodblock print is one of the few largest works Nishijima Katsuyuki has created, and among the largest we have on offer. Producing woodblock prints of this size poses challenges for artists. While carving the woodblocks is more laborious, it is not significantly more complex; the real difficulty lies in the printing process, as the printer must apply pressure evenly over a much greater distance. Moreover, even the slightest misalignment becomes magnified at this scale, resulting in a significant deviation on the opposite end. Nishijima Katsuyuki is one of the few artists capable of working at this scale, though even he produced only a handful of designs this large.