Ohara Koson

Shoson, Hoson, 1877-1945

Egrets and Willow
(Yanagi ni shirasagi)

signed Shoson with artist's seal Shoson, with publisher's seal on lower right margin, Hanken shoyu fukyo mosha Watanabe Shozaburo (Copyright ownership, reproduction not allowed without permission, Watanabe Shozaburo), ca. 1926

oban tate-e 15 3/8 by 10 in., 39 by 25.5 cm

For comparison see Crows, Cranes & Camellias: the natural world of Ohara Koson, 1877-1945, Hotei Publishing, 2001, p. 154, no. 158 for a slightly later edition.

Ohara Koson was one of the most important and prolific kacho-ga (bird and flower) woodblock prints artists of the early 20th century shin-hanga (new print) movement. He began publishing prints with Watanabe Shozaburo after the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, around 1926. Before the earthquake, Koson published kacho-ga with Kokkeido (Akiyama Buemon) in Nihonbashi; Daikokuya (Matsuki Heikichi) in Ryogokubashi; and Nishinomiya Yosaku; always using the go (artist's name) Koson. When he began publishing with Watanabe Shozaburo, he adopted the go, Shoson.

References:
Amy Reigle Newland; Jan Perree; and Robert Schapp, Crows, Cranes & Camellias: the Natural World of Ohara Koson, 1877-1945, 2001, p. 154, no. 158a
Carolyn M. Putney, Fresh Impressions: Early Modern Japanese Prints, Toledo Museum of Art, 2013, p. 215, cat. 182
(inv. no. 10-5160)

price: $2,600