Ito Sozan: Two Crows in Snow

Artist: Itō Sōzan (1884-?)
Title: Two Crows in Snow   Date: ca. 1923-1936

Two crows make their way in the snow, one looking down as it places its foot and the other looking at something behind them. The bird in the foreground has  an urushi-e (lacquer-like) type effect; its companion is printed in a more muted shade, so the two are each very distinct. Their footprints are visible as are grey baren marks where their shadows fall. Sôzan designed prints for Watanabe from 1919 until 1926, with Watanabe’s 1936 catalog containing 28 designs by Sôzan.

Dimensions: o-tanzaku (17.2 x 38 cm)    Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo
Literature: 1936 Watanabe catalog #234. For artist info see Merritt, Helen and Nanako Yamada. "Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: 1900-1975." University of Hawaii Press, 1992. p. 47. Amy Riegle Stephens, gen. ed., The New Wave: Twentieth-century Japanese Prints from the Robert O. Muller Collection, 1993, p. 115, no. 95. See National Museum of Asian Art Collection and Chazen Museum of Art. Seal: Sô and Zan

SKU: SOC004T