The Fox and the Grape (from Fables of La Fontaine)

From a deep, soft black—almost like velvet—to a white that faintly rises to the surface. This is a masterpiece from the mature period of Hasegawa Kiyoshi, a master of modern Japanese woodblock prints. When he traveled to Paris at the beginning of the 20th century, the mezzotint technique was already becoming obsolete. Hasegawa, who became acquainted with this technique when he ventured to France, produced his own technique after strenuous efforts, resurrecting it as a modern technique. While copperplate engraving by means of etching draws black lines and planes on a white surface, mezzotint produces white with a variety of gradients from a velvety black background—it truly is a “manière noire” (black manner), as it is called in French. Utilizing this technique, which, even within copperplate engraving, places an especially high demand on the mastery of ability, Hasegawa elevated this work to a world with a mysterious atmosphere of stillness.