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See how the crow’s body is one dense patch of black with a few lighter strokes for feathers, then follow the bent branch down to the spiky burrs among long, toothed leaves.
A single crow, made from a few broad, wet strokes of black ink, grips a twisting branch. Kyōsai specialized in figures and animals, and the Art Institute of Chicago dates this scroll to about 1868 to 1889. He painted crows more than once: the Cleveland Museum of Art owns one on a plum branch under a full moon, stamped with a seal that calls him a drunken painting demon.
Hanging scroll; ink on paper · 188.3 × 53 cm · Art Institute of Chicago
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Crow on pine branch.
- Artist
- Kawanabe Kyosai Japanese, 1831-1889
- Date
- about 1868-1889
- Medium
- Hanging scroll; ink on paper
- Dimensions
- 188.3 × 53 cm (74 3/16 × 20 7/8 in.)
- Credit line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold G. Henderson
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Art Institute of Chicago
Artist’s life 1831–1889
View in the AtlasGaller’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.