Black Crow
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Museum of Fine Arts Boston
- Image courtesy of
- Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Description
This print presents a single black crow rendered with the concentrated brushwork that Kyosai brought from Japanese ink painting into the woodblock medium. Crows held a complex symbolic position in Japanese culture — associated with the Shinto deity Kumano as divine messengers, but also with ill omen and death in popular belief. Kyosai's affinity for corvids recurs throughout his work, often in contexts that exploit this ambiguity. The bird's plumage would have been achieved through layered black ink, possibly with subtle gradation to suggest the iridescent sheen of actual crow feathers. A composition centered on a single bird against a spare ground reflects the influence of Zen-inflected ink painting, stripped of narrative clutter to focus attention on form, posture, and the quality of the printed line.
More Prints by Kawanabe Kyosai
from the series One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai (Kyôsai hyakuzu)
Woodblock print
Old Picture of the Rashômon Gate (Rashômon no ko zu), from the series Scenes of Famous Places along the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô meisho fûkei), also known as the Processional Tôkaidô (Gyôretsu Tôkaidô), here called Tôkaidô meisho tsuzuki
Woodblock print
Tsukishimadera Temple in Hyôgo (Hyôgo Tsukishimadera), from the series Scenes of Famous Places along the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô meisho fûkei), also known as the Processional Tôkaidô (Gyôretsu Tôkaidô), here called Tôkaidô meisho no uchi
Woodblock print
from the series One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai (Kyôsai hyakuzu)
Woodblock print
More Birds & Flowers Prints
Frequently Asked Questions
Black Crow was created by Kawanabe Kyosai (河鍋暁斎).
Black Crow depicts birds & flowers.