Reader Collection > Exhibitions > Wild Birds and Women in Contemporary Japanese Art

Introduction

Pictures of a wild bird or of a woman are common in Japanese art but pictures of a wild bird and a woman are much less common, except in contemporary Japanese art (i.e., 1950 to present day). Wild birds and women are not natural companions so why, then, would numerous contemporary Japanese artists choose to include a wild bird and a woman in the same picture? One possible explanation is that the contemporary philosophy of art champions novelty, one example of which is a picture of a wild bird and a woman. Twenty examples of contemporary wild bird and woman pictures, each drawn by a different Japanese artist, are included in this virtual exhibition. In pictures 1-13 the woman is fully clothed while in pictures 14-20 the woman is either naked or only partly clothed. For each picture, the following information is provided: names of the artist and bird (if known), title (if any), printing method and print size. These twenty prints are part of the Reader Collection of Japanese Art.

1   Unknown bird and woman by Ryūsei Okamoto, entitled girl (bird), woodblock, 305 x 455 mm

2   Unknown bird and woman by Kaoru Kawano, woodblock, 290 x 425 mm

3   Varied tit (Sittiparus varius) and woman by Senpan Maekawa, woodblock, 515 x 380 mm

4   Unknown bird and woman by Shūzō Ikeda, woodblock, 145 x 125 mm

5   Unknown bird and woman by Shūichi Ono, entitled bird face, lithograph, 650 x 500 mm

6   Unknown bird and woman by Kōichi Sakamoto, entitled through shadow (A), intaglio, 380 x 285 mm

7   Rock dove (Columba livia) and woman by Shirō Takagi, entitled chrysanthemum and talented woman, woodblock, 310 x 370 mm

8   Unknown bird and woman by Masao Yoshida, intaglio, 470 x 620 mm

9   Daurian redstart (Phoenicurus auroreus) and woman by Masumi Ozawa, entitled ride on the bird, screenprint, 135 x 165 mm

10   Unknown birds and woman by Akiko Ohba, entitled strange bird trainer, woodblock, 175 x 180 mm

11   Hawk (Accipiter sp.) and woman by Iwao Akiyama, entitled girl with hawk, woodblock, 490 x 640 mm

12   Unknown birds and woman by Shiho Murakami, intaglio, 100 x 150 mm

13   Unknown bird and woman by Seiji Togō, intaglio, 495 x 640 mm

14   Swan (Cygnus sp.) and woman by Iwami Furusawa, entitled Leda, lithograph, 455 x 635 mm

15   Unknown bird and woman by Kazu Wakita, entitled birds and people lying down, lithograph, 500 x 405 mm

16   Cassowary (Cassuarius sp.) and woman by Tamiji Kitagawa, intaglio, 250 x 215 mm

17   Toco toucan (Rhamphastos toco) and women by Hodaka Yoshida, entitled toucan and white house N, woodblock, 640 x 370 mm

18   Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) and woman by Takeshi Katori, intaglio, 395 x 270 mm  

19   Unknown bird and woman by Tadayoshi Nakabayashi, entitled not all things go bad, intaglio, 345 x 445 mm

20    Cormorant (Phalacrocorax sp.) and woman by Hideo Yoshihara, entitled woman and bird, intaglio, 165 x 225 mm

Back to Exhibitions