(Bird on a branch) c. 19th century

Tanomura Shosai created this print of a bird on a branch, sometime between the late 19th and early 20th century. Shosai, born in 1847, lived through a period of immense social and political change in Japan as the country opened up to the West after a long period of self-imposed isolation. During this time, Japanese artists were wrestling with how to maintain their cultural identities amidst a rapidly modernizing world. Shosai's print, with its delicate brushwork and poetic inscription, evokes a sense of quiet contemplation, a retreat into the beauty of the natural world. The artist's gaze captures a moment of harmony and balance, even as history was pulling Japan in new directions. Is there a sense in which Shosai's image of the natural world is offering an alternative vision to the dominant narratives of progress? His art invites us to consider the emotional and spiritual dimensions of life.