Yellow Canary

A yellow canary — its small body vivid with color — is rendered with the focused attention Kawano brought to bird subjects throughout his career. The canary was a popular household pet in postwar Japan and a subject associated with domestic life, cheerfulness, and the small pleasures of everyday existence. Kawano's version translates the bird's bright yellow into the flat color fields of the woodblock print, the warm hue contrasting with whatever darker ground surrounds the small figure.