Pagoda and Crows at Sunset
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Publisher:
- Watanabe Shozaburo
- Edition:
- Published by Watanabe Shozaburo
- Source:
- Japanese Art Open Database
Description
A pagoda rises against the sky at the hour of sunset, its silhouette darkening as the surrounding air turns amber, while crows wheel in formation above or around the tower — their black forms cutting across the warm sky. The crow-and-pagoda combination was one of the most evocative subjects in the repertoire of Japanese atmospheric landscape: the birds' daily return to their roost at dusk giving the ancient architecture an animating counterpoint. Shotei's composition exploits the dramatic contrast between the birds' movement and the tower's absolute stillness.
More Prints by Takahashi Shotei
More Night Scenes Prints
Evening in East Africa
Woodblock print
Evening Shower at Teradomari (Teradomari no yau), from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, Second Series (Tabi miyage dai nishu)"
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)
Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)"
1947
Color woodblock print; oban
Evening Moon at Nakanoshima, Sapporo (Sapporo Nakanoshima no yuzuki), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition (Nihon fukei shu higashi Nihon hen)"
March 1933
Color woodblock print; oban
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Pagoda and Crows at Sunset was created by Takahashi Shotei (高橋松亭).
Pagoda and Crows at Sunset was published by Watanabe Shozaburo.
Pagoda and Crows at Sunset depicts night scenes and pagodas.