Ohara Koson 小原古邨 "Geese in Flight and Full Moon" woodcut, 1911

Ohara Koson 小原古邨 "Geese in Flight and Full Moon" hand-coloured woodblock print, published by Daikokuya in the year 1911.

Condition as shown in the photographs.

Dimensions with frame 36x21 cm.

Ohara Koson was an important Japanese printmaker of the twentieth century, known above all for his kacho-ga prints of birds and flowers. During his apprenticeship with Kason he took the artist's name Koson, a partial adaptation of his teacher's name. Early in his career many of Koson's woodblock prints faded, which gave them an air of calm and elegance. Koson's depictions of birds are highly realistic; the details of the body and of the feathers in particular were always rendered with meticulous care. In this print Koson refers to a motif from classical Japanese art, that of geese flying in moonlight, a theme he returned to several times over the course of his career. The geese are often shown in pairs as a symbol of loyalty and conjugal happiness.