Le Poulpe Colossal Henri Edmond Cross Hasui Kawase composes the scene

Hasui Kawase composes the scene with the spare elegance of the shin-hanga school: nothing superfluous

framing the town in a haze of golden and olive tones against a vivid blue sky

where accuracy and beauty were understood as the same ambition

and precisely drawn

Ogawa Kazumasa's lotus photograph is a study in stillness and light

Le Poulpe Colossal Henri Edmond Cross Hasui Kawase composes the sceneLe Poulpe Colossal the legendary giant octopus surges from a tempest black sea in this iconic plate from Pierre Denys de Montfort's 1802 natural history. Tentacles coil around a stricken three mast ship in a composition that is equal parts scientific record and pure spectacle. The dramatic chiaroscuro, churning waves, and sense of impossible scale make this one of the most extraordinary images from the golden age of natural history illustration where