Twilight (B), Shôwa period,
by Kaoru Kawano
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Edition:
- Self-printed
- Source:
- Harvard Art Museums
Description
Twilight (B) is one of Kawano's nocturnal mood compositions, capturing the threshold moment between day and night when light and shadow exist in uneasy equilibrium. The B designation indicates a variant of an earlier twilight design, with alterations in color palette or compositional arrangement. Twilight in Japanese aesthetic tradition — tasogare, literally "who is that?" — was the time when familiar forms became ambiguous and uncertain, and Kawano's treatment of the subject honors this poetic association with the dissolution of clear perception.
More Prints by Kaoru Kawano
More Night Scenes Prints
Evening in East Africa
Woodblock print
Evening Shower at Teradomari (Teradomari no yau), from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, Second Series (Tabi miyage dai nishu)"
Teradomari no yau
1921
Color woodblock print; oban
![Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)" by Kawase Hasui](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/d0960668-1e73-339a-b182-fb995a54bff0/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)"
1947
Color woodblock print; oban
Evening Moon at Nakanoshima, Sapporo (Sapporo Nakanoshima no yuzuki), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition (Nihon fukei shu higashi Nihon hen)"
March 1933
Color woodblock print; oban
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Twilight (B), Shôwa period, was created by Kaoru Kawano (川野薫).
Twilight (B), Shôwa period, depicts night scenes.