Crows, Cranes & Camellias : The Natural World of Ohara Koson

Book Description
Little is known about the print artist Koson, whose career commenced at a time when the Ukiyo-e print tradition was dying out and the shin hanga ('new print') movement had not yet begun. He received little recognition in Japan but many of his prints of birds and flowers, characterised by their peaceful charm, were sold abroad, mainly in the United States and Europe, where things Japanese found an eager market. Japan only recently honoured Koson with an exhibition, organised after the discovery of some valuable material, including many of his original paintings and sketches. This book about Koson is the first Western publication of his oeuvre of prints and paintings, based upon a private Dutch collection. It provides all known information on the artist's life and work, his teachers and publishers, facsimiles of his signatures and seals and illustrations of an estimated ninety percent of his total print output. The definitive reference book for Koson collectors.


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Little is known about the artist Ohara Koson (1877-1945), whose career bridged the era between the decline of the full-color woodblock print (nishiki-e) in the late 19th century/early 20th century and the emergence of the Shin-hanga ("new print") movement in the 1910s. An artist principally marketed abroad, Koson￯﾿ﾽs bird-and-flower prints met with great success in the United States and Europe. He has only recently received attention in his native Japan following the discovery of important reference material including original sketches and paintings for his prints.
"Crows, Cranes and Camellias: the natural world of Ohara Koson 1877-1945" is the first publication in a Western language to discuss his corpus of work, and it has drawn upon the private Jan Perrée Collection for inspiration. Including an overview of Koson￯﾿ﾽs life and artistic career, augmented by a checklist of the majority of his work, select seals and signatures, this book is an invaluable source for Koson collectors.
"Crows, Cranes & Camellias" accompanied an exhibition of Koson's work held at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam in 2001.


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