Title: Five White Egrets
Creator: Ohara Koson
Medium: Color woodcut
Repository: Black Collection of Japanese Prints (Connecticut College ASIAN Art Collection)
Date: 1927
Culture: Japanese
Dimension: 265mm (width), 395mm (height)
Description: This image depicts five white egrets standing in what appears to be water, white possible snow or rain coming down. The artist choose to keep the depiction of the birds very simply, for there are no distinct feather patterns that you can see, just the separation between body and wing. Although without even saying so, the tallest bird in the back seems to be the “leader” so to speak or the one in charge, just by the stance he has and how he is represented being above all the others. The three crouched in the front seem to be the younger or more scared of the flock based on their body language of being lower and curled up. He used just a solid white with little detail on the body, and almost focused more on the “face” of the bird and the feet. He used highlights and almost blended the details together to give the illusion of a real foot. The artist used very minimal color except to highlight the bottom of the painting with a blue background. I think this work is important because of how simple yet interesting it is to look at. The little amounts of color and only small pop of blue gives me the sense of calmness and peace.
Refrences:
“Five White Egrets .” Connecticut College Asian Art Collections, https://oak.conncoll.edu/visual/asian-art/Caroline%20Black%20Collection%20of%20Japanese%20Woodcuts/content/_2950785467_large.html.
Museum of New Zealand. “Loading…: Collections Online – Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.” Loading… | Collections Online – Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/1529420.
