Long-eared owl on bare tree branch

by Ohara Koson

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Artist Statement

Ohara Koson was best known for his kacho-e (bird-and-flower) style woodblock prints. While kacho-e dates back to the 14th century in Japanese art, this motif was particularly popular in the early 20th century shin-hanga (“new prints”) movement, of which Koson was a prominent participant. Kacho-e is characterized by delicate and meticulous outlines and bright color washes.

Why We Love It

Looking at Long-eared owl, it’s easy to see why these works won special attention. The composition is exacting and refined, the visual details spare, precise and carefully considered but still rich and complete-feeling. They work together to tell an intimate, compelling story. A crescent moon sets an evening stage, its position in the lower left corner of the frame giving the impression of a high perch in hilly terrain. The silhouetted sliver of tree branch behind the bird has scant foliage, suggesting this scene might be a winter one. Koson’s signature is nestled between the limb in the fore and the branch in the background—real thought has gone into the way his lines divide the visual plane ... Read more on the blog!

Details

+ Limited-edition, exclusive to 20x200
+ Museum quality: archival inks, 100% cotton rag paper unless noted
+ Handcrafted custom-framing is available

Our quoted dimensions are for the size of paper containing the images, not the printed image itself. We do not alter the aspect ratio, nor do we crop or resize the artists’ originals. All of our prints have a minimum border of .5 inches to allow for framing.

Medium:

Museo Portfolio Rag

Edition Structure:
10"x8" | edition of 10
14"x11" | edition of 250
20"x16" | edition of 25

Ohara Koson

Ohara Koson (1877-1945) was a Japanese painter and printmaker of the shin-hanga (“new prints”) movement. Shin-hanga was an early 20th century revival of traditional ukiyo-e art in which the artist, carver, and printer played distinctly separate but unified roles, as opposed to sosaku-hanga (“creative prints”), in which the artist performs all roles and is the sole creator of the work. Koson moved to Tokyo in the late 1890s, eventually becoming a teacher at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. In 1905, he began practicing woodblock printing, and in time began exporting his prints to American collectors through Ernest Fenollosa, curator... Read More
of Japanese Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. While designing many genre landscapes and Russo-Japanese Wars prints, Koson was most known for his kacho-e (bird-and-flower) prints.
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