
Fire Bird
by Ouchi Makoto
- Date:
- 1980
- Medium:
- Etching, ink and color on paper
- Dimensions:
- 94.3 × 61 cm
- Source:
- Minneapolis Institute of Art

by Ouchi Makoto
Key value factors: For living or recently deceased artists, limited edition size and gallery representation drive value. Signed and numbered prints from smaller editions are most desirable.
"Fire Bird" is a 1980 etching in ink and color on paper by Ouchi Makoto, evoking the mythical phoenix that appears in both Eastern and Western traditions. In Japanese culture, the ho-o bird represents renewal and the cyclical nature of destruction and rebirth. Ouchi's etched lines allow for intricate feather-like textures and flickering shapes that suggest flame and plumage simultaneously. The color application over the intaglio foundation creates areas of warmth and intensity appropriate to the incendiary subject. Rather than illustrating a literal bird, Ouchi likely abstracts the fire-bird concept into swirling forms that move between recognizable avian anatomy and pure elemental energy, capturing the moment of transformation that makes the phoenix myth so enduring.
Fire Bird was created by Ouchi Makoto (大内マコト) in 1980.
Fire Bird uses Etching, on etching, ink and color on paper.
Fire Bird depicts birds & flowers.
Fire Bird measures 94.3 × 61 cm.