Kingfisher and Iris

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Kingfisher and Iris

Artist Ohara Shoson (Japanese, 1877-1945)

Publisher Watanabe Shozaburo (1885-1962)

Date1926

Dimensionsoverall: 15 1/4 x 10 1/4 in. (38.7 x 26 cm)
image: 14 1/4 x 9 9/16 in. (36.2 x 24.3 cm)

Mediumcolor woodblock print

ClassificationPrints

Credit LineGift of Hubert D. Bennett

Object number

1939.260

Not on View

Label TextThe common kingfisher of Japan is a small bird, about 7 inches long, with dazzling electric ultramarine blue and green feathers. Its Japanese name, kawasemi, translates as “river cicada,” and Koson here depicts it darting, insect-like, towards its prey. Recently, a new kind of Japanese bullet train was modeled on the beak of a kingfisher to reduce air resistance the way a kingfisher can dive into water without making a splash.Published ReferencesPutney, Carolyn M., Kendall H. Brown, Koyama Shuko, and Paul Binnie, Fresh Impressions: Early Modern Japanese Prints, Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, 2013. repr. (col.) pp. 218.Exhibition HistoryToledo, Toledo Museum of Art, A Special Exhibition of Modern Japanese Prints, March 2-- March 30, 1930, repr. pl. 176.

Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, For the Birds, April 13-October 14, 2012.

Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, Fresh Impressions: Early Modern Japanese Prints, October 4, 2013-January 1, 2014.