Bird in Snow by Kawanabe Kyōsai - after 1881 - 36.1 x 24.7 cm National Museum of Asian Art Bird in Snow by Kawanabe Kyōsai - after 1881 - 36.1 x 24.7 cm National Museum of Asian Art

Bird in Snow

woodblock print; ink and color on paper • 36.1 x 24.7 cm
  • Kawanabe Kyōsai - May 18, 1831 - April 26, 1889 Kawanabe Kyōsai after 1881

Kyōsai is reputed to have produced as many as two hundred drawings in one day. His most celebrated painting was an ink-on-paper rendering of a crow on a branch, an award-winning creation exhibited in 1881 at the Second National Industrial Exhibition in Tokyo. Its success obliged him to satisfy a great demand for similar images. Here, he achieves the feel of brushwork with an ironic reversal, using the white, uninked paper to compose the central elements. The bird's eye and the slightest gradation in and around the beak further nuance this print. Beautiful, isn't it?

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