Detail View: Louis Black Collection of Japanese Prints:

Louis Black Collection of Japanese Prints, Art History Dept, Cummings Arts Center, Connecticut College, New London

KOSON

Japan

Untitled

Woodcut

35 x 19 cm

animals

birds

Louis Black, 1955

bird in flight emerging from hanging leaves Originally a trained painter, Koson began designing woodblock prints during his tenure at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. Due to his collaboration with the established print publisher Watanabe Shozaburo starting in the mid 1920’s, Koson’s prints became highly successful. Koson became well recognized for his idyllic flora and fauna prints; it is unknown if the artist felt a particular connection to the natural world or if Watanabe pushed Koson to design flower and animal prints in order to capitalize on yet another genre of the shin hanga. 8 Indeed, the prominent publisher sent the majority of Koson’s nature-oriented prints to Western countries where they became immensely popular. As seen in Five White Egrets, Koson’s prints often incorporate traditional Japanese artistic techniques such as flat planes of color and a lack of perspective. More common animals (such as the Egret) appealed to Western buyers simply because the subject matter was easy to understand. Generally speaking, Koson’s animal scenes are more accessible to Western audiences because they do not refer to Japanese customs, society or history in any way.” --Sydney LaBlonde ‘08