Two Egrets at Night
by Ohara Koson
- Date:
- c.1910
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Publisher:
- Watanabe Shozaburo
by Ohara Koson
Koson's vast output of ~450 designs spans birds, flowers, fish, insects, and occasional landscapes. While his large production keeps most prints accessible, early Kokkeido-period impressions with muted, elegant Meiji-era coloring are distinctly more sought after than the brighter later Watanabe editions.
Two egrets stand in darkness — the white birds luminous against a night sky or dark water, their forms rendered in the pure white of the unpigmented paper highlighted by the surrounding darkness. Dated around 1910, this print belongs to Koson's earlier career period when he was developing the nocturnal compositions that would become central to his mature output. The bokashi gradation creates the depth of the night sky, against which the egrets glow with a quality approaching luminescence.
Woodblock print
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)
1947
Color woodblock print; oban
March 1933
Color woodblock print; oban
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Two Egrets at Night was created by Ohara Koson (小原古邨) in c.1910.
Two Egrets at Night uses Bokashi, on woodblock print.
Two Egrets at Night was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (c.1910).
Two Egrets at Night depicts night scenes.
