This experimental exhibition juxtaposes works created in vastly different eras and cultural contexts: drawings by the contemporary Austrian artist Leopold Strobl and Edo-period ukiyo-e woodblock prints by Hiroshige I and II. Despite the historical and geographical distance between them, striking—perhaps coincidental—affinities emerge in their approaches to composition and color.

Blue-to-green tonalities permeate the works, evoking dense atmospheres in which natural and architectural structures rise with quiet intensity. In Strobl’s drawings, figures and artificial elements embedded within the landscape are meticulously overpainted, concealed in shadow and darkness. In contrast, Hiroshige’s figures are often diminished to abstracted or barely legible appendages of the landscape itself.

Both artistic practices reflect a profound engagement with human existence and its place within the world. What emerges is not a narrative centered on human presence, but rather a vision of a world that persists with its own force and autonomy. The distinction lies in the treatment of humanity: whether it appears as a marginal adjunct to the landscape or is deliberately erased from view.

By placing Strobl’s contemporary drawings in dialogue with Hiroshige’s ukiyo-e prints, the exhibition brings into focus a deep affinity in their respective worldviews—one that transcends time, geography, and medium, and reveals a shared sensitivity toward landscape as a site of enduring intensity.