Sparrow 1900 - 1930

Ohara Koson made this print of a sparrow most likely with woodblocks, and you can almost feel the breeze in it. I can imagine the artist, Koson, carving away at the wood, trying to capture the delicate balance of nature. The soft greys and browns create a muted scene but the careful detail given to the feathers, the bamboo, and the seeds bring the image to life. There’s a beautiful sense of movement here, like the sparrow has just landed on the birdhouse. Look at the angle and detail of the individual stems of hay. Each mark is carefully considered. Prints like this remind us of the long conversation artists have across time. Koson was probably looking at other prints, learning from them, and then adding his own voice. It’s this kind of exchange that keeps art alive, a constant dialogue of looking, making, and reinterpreting the world around us.