Songbird and Lotus by Ohara Koson

Songbird and Lotus 1900 - 1936

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water colours

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pastel soft colours

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egg art

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asian-art

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floral element

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curved letter used

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handmade artwork painting

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food art

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watercolour bleed

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watercolour illustration

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watercolor

Copyright: Public Domain: Artvee

Ohara Koson made this print of a lotus and songbird; it is hard to put a precise date on the piece, but he worked between the late 19th and early 20th century. Look how delicately the petals are described with fine lines, like veins on a leaf. The lotus appears soft and ephemeral. It’s all about the process. I can imagine Koson, totally absorbed, gently coaxing the image into being. It is as if each mark is a meditation, a dance between observation and feeling. The lotus here is not just a flower, but a symbol of purity and enlightenment. The smooth, almost translucent quality of the ink creates a dreamlike effect. The lotus floats, and the bird, perched on a petal, becomes a messenger. Koson’s contemporary, Utagawa Hiroshige, used a similar economy of line. Like Hiroshige, Koson leaves space for our imagination to wander. The artwork invites multiple readings, and that’s the beauty of it. It’s a conversation, a question, not a statement.

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