This blog was written by Tristan Madden during his 2024 summer internship at Ronin Gallery. Thanks Tristan for all your hard work! 

As the summer solstice passes in late June, the hot days become shorter into July and August. Heat waves engulf the city and the increasingly longer and cooler nights, fueled by the ocean breeze, become a respite for city denizens. People begin to spend more time outside at night, escaping the heat of the day and reveling under the light of the moon. The exhibition Summer Nights: Dusk Till Dawn, sheds light on the many shades of a summer night. Starting as the sun sets, following the city dwellers’ escapades throughout the night, up till the break of dawn. In this blog, Ronin Gallery invites you to explore the night in five segments: Dusk, Evening, Midnight, The Witching Hour, and the Dawn.

Dusk

Fishing boats take advantage of the cool breeze to moore themselves on the docks and sandy beaches. As shops close, the sun's unrelenting heat wanes, restaurants light their lanterns for the night and the early crowd emerges from their homes. In works such as Shotei’s “Evening Calm, Shinagawa”, the viewer is treated to beautiful blends of prussian blues and scarlet reds with hints of yellow and silver coating the sky, as the sun sets. Once the moon finishes its ascent, the aforementioned blues consume the world as dusk gives way to evening.

Evening

Now the moon hung in the sky illuminates the city in deep blues and a silvery tint as the last few boats return to port. Pictured above in “Omi Province, Lake Biwa, Ishiyama Temple” by Hiroshige, waterfront buildings’ lights illuminate silhouettes as the nightly crowds start to disperse into smaller, more secluded spaces. Soon the streets will be empty as people tuck into bars and theaters, just as the moon starts its descent towards the horizon.

Midnight

Once the moon completes its trajectory and disappears from the sky, blues give way to blacks. The only light sources are produced deliberately through lanterns and street lights. Michael Magers’ work “Golden Gai 1” harnesses the energy of this time, making the viewer feel as an outsider, observing the late night tranquility of the city from a distance. The viewer peeks into the glowing intimate atmospheres and enclaves of the night. As the rest of the city sleeps, patrons duck in and out of the slowly closing bars till the last calls are made. The abstraction of the night slowly creeps into frame as the clock strikes the early hours of the morning.

The Witching Hour

As the hours of the early morning approach, abstraction takes center stage. Contemporary works, such as “Tokyo Night View #2” by Katsutoshi Yuasa, capture this sense of abstraction through a display of deep blacks, color blocking, and distorted familiar places and objects. In this work one with a trained eye can make out part of the Tokyo skyline, as it is diluted by the beams of light and the darkness of the night. As the sun starts to rise ever so slightly we can see the black let up into a wonderful spectrum of blue right before the first reds of the morning appear.

Dawn

As the fishermen wake, the sun is barely cresting over the horizon. They set out to sea on the final few cool breezes from the night, as the soft warmth of the rising sun slowly wakes the rest of the cityfolk. “Calm Morning on Ajiromisaki, Izu” by Shiro displays this feeling best, the calm water with the gentle waves hitting the shore as people wander down towards the beach. These works capture the beauty of the pink and orange sun rising over the calm water of the warm summer sea. Beautiful mixes of pastel blue, pink, red, and orange make up the contents of the sky.