Jacek Machowski - Reflection

Contemporary Woodblock Print

A fabulous print by Jacek Machowski - Reflection. In this incredibly fine and closely worked image, a cat is seen through the window of a brick façade, in a clear homage to Hiroshige’s Asakusa Ricefields and Torinomachi Festival. Machowski reverses Hiroshige’s viewpoint, placing us outside looking in, and reinterprets the composition through contemporary mokuhanga. Printed from three woodblocks, the tightly structured image is softened by water-based colour and subtle mica, which catches the light across the surface. A beautiful piece.🐈✨

• Year & Edition: 2026 · Ed. of 100 (signed, titled & editioned in pencil).
• Medium: Woodblock. Three blocks, mica added to selected inks. Printed on Betulla Woodstock 225 g/m² paper.
• Dimensions: Sheet H: 18.00 cm × W: 11.00 cm (Image H: 15.80 cm × W: 9.20 cm).
• Condition: Mint. Direct from the artist’s studio.
• Notes: Reflection was created as part of a collaborative harimaze (張交絵 / 貼交絵) project with two other woodblock printmakers, drawing on the Japanese format of bringing several separate images together on a single sheet. Machowski’s composition specifically references Utagawa Hiroshige’s Asakusa Ricefields and Torinomachi Festival, but reverses its viewpoint. The title also works on two levels, referring both to contemplation and to the physical reflection of light. Mica incorporated into selected inks reinforces this idea, producing a restrained sheen as the viewing angle changes. A tremendous example of Machowski’s work: technically precise, deeply informed by Japanese printmaking, and original in its reworking of a celebrated Hiroshige image. *Delivered in presentation slip.

About the Artist

Jacek Machowski (b. 1983) is a Polish printmaker and educator who has become an important European voice in contemporary mokuhanga (木版画). Trained at the University of Rzeszów, Japanese water-based woodblock is central to his practice, combining traditional hand-printing with techniques such as bokashi gradation, karazuri embossing and kirazuri mica printing. In 2026, he completed a doctorate devoted to adapting mokuhanga to Polish materials and conditions, and his work has appeared in more than one hundred exhibitions in Poland and abroad, including major international exhibitions in Nara and Echizen.