Art on Tuesday: Full Moon

This beautiful ukiyo-e of a full moon with plum blossoms was designed by Ohara Koson 小原 古邨 (1877-1945). He was a painter and print designer of Japanese woodblock prints best known for his pictures depicting birds and flowers (kachō-e 花鳥絵). Ohara joined the “shin hanga” (新版画) movement in Japan in the early 20th century. He is one of the most famous artists of his time known for his landscape and animal paintings.

He designed some more ukiyo-e with a full moon as a background. The above picture shows blue flowers and some grass plants with yellow flowers. Some clouds are hanging in front of the full moon.

Ohara Koson also painted this pair of flying geese before a full moon. It is an example of his (kachō-e 花鳥絵) ukiyo-e with animals. There are many other beautiful woodblock prints and paintings he made. A good source where you can find his woodblock prints is wikimedia.org.

Editor’s Note: This post was first published on Japan Kaleidoskop, a blog about Japanese literature and art. It was originally published on April 2, 2013 and was rewritten and updated on May 9, 2023.

Art on Tuesday: Starlings in Spring

This woodblock print is a spring picture by Ohara Koson 小原 古邨 (1877–1945). It depicts two starlings on a cherry branch. One bird is looking directly at the spectator and the other is going to jump and fly away any moment soon. The red cherry blossoms are still closed but are already red and soon will be in bloom. The birds are sitting on a very thin branch that seems to be too thin for them both. The picture captures only a short moment. Soon it will be over. A short glimpse of transience.

Art on Tuesday: Early Spring

This woodblock print shows a bullfinch on a plum tree (1912). It was designed by Ohara Koson 小原 古邨 (1877–1945). He was a painter and print designer of Japanese woodblock paintings best known for his pictures with birds and flowers (kachō-e). Ohara joined the “Shin hanga movement“, and he is one of the most famous artists of his time for landscape and animal paintings.