BLACK CROW IN RAIN
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Harvard Art Museum
- Image courtesy of
- Harvard Art Museum
Description
This print depicts a crow in rainfall, a combination that intensifies the bird's association with darkness and atmospheric unease. Fine parallel diagonal lines across the composition would render the rain, a conventional technique in woodblock printing that requires careful registration across multiple blocks. The crow's black silhouette against rain-streaked sky creates a stark tonal contrast. Kyosai's handling of atmospheric conditions — inherited partly from Shijô school naturalism and partly from his own restless experimentation — lent such prints a directness that separated them from more decorative kacho-e traditions. Rain activates the crow's posture: the bird likely hunches or ruffles its feathers, giving the image a tactile specificity that moves beyond mere symbol into observed behavior.
More Prints by Kawanabe Kyosai
from the series One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai (Kyôsai hyakuzu)
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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
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from the series One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai (Kyôsai hyakuzu)
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More Birds & Flowers Prints
Frequently Asked Questions
BLACK CROW IN RAIN was created by Kawanabe Kyosai (河鍋暁斎).
BLACK CROW IN RAIN depicts birds & flowers and rain.