Poppies and White Bird — けしと白い鳥

Poppies and a white bird — the red flowers paired with the bird's white form in a composition of strong color contrast. The poppy (keshi) in Japanese art was associated with summer and with the somewhat melancholy beauty of a flower that blooms briefly and forcefully before disappearing. Kimura pairs this vivid red flower with a white bird, creating a composition in which the complementary colors of red and white — traditionally auspicious in Japanese aesthetics — animate a kachō-ga subject in a contemporary graphic mode.