Artwork
露草に鶏と雛|Rooster, Hen and Chicken with Spiderwort
露草に鶏と雛|Rooster, Hen and Chicken with Spiderwort is an ink print by the Japonisme artist Katsushika Hokusai. It dates from 1832 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Created in 1830 by Katsushika Hokusai, this woodblock print belongs to the Japanese bird-and-flower painting tradition within the ukiyo-e genre.
Created in 1830 by Katsushika Hokusai, this woodblock print belongs to the Japanese bird-and-flower painting tradition within the ukiyo-e genre. The composition features a hen as its primary subject, accompanied by a rooster and a chick, interacting with spiderwort flowers. As a nishiki-e (full-color print), the work utilizes ink and color on paper to render these natural elements.
While the specific symbolic narrative is not explicitly detailed in available records, the grouping of adult birds with their offspring alongside seasonal flora typically represents themes of family unity, prosperity, and the cycles of nature in Japanese iconography.
Technique & Style
Rooster, Hen and Chicken with Spiderwort is a woodblock print executed in ink and color on paper. Created in 1830 by Katsushika Hokusai, the work belongs to the ukiyo-e tradition and is specifically classified as nishiki-e, a style of Japanese multi-colored woodblock printing. The composition falls within the genre of bird-and-flower painting, a category of Japanese art that focuses on natural subjects.
The piece depicts a rooster, a hen, and a chick alongside spiderwort plants, rendered through the precise layering of pigments typical of the medium.
History & Provenance
The work titled 露草に鶏と雛|Rooster, Hen and Chicken with Spiderwort was created by Katsushika Hokusai in 1830 as a woodblock print on paper. It was produced as part of his bird-and-flower painting series within the ukiyo-e tradition and depicts a hen. The piece is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Katsushika Hokusai's woodblock print Rooster, Hen and Chicken with Spiderwort, created in 1830, is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The work is classified as a nishiki-e print within the museum's holdings of Japanese ukiyo-e art. While the specific inventory or accession number is not provided in the available records, the piece is documented as part of the museum's permanent collection of bird-and-flower paintings.
The provided sources do not list any specific exhibition history for this work, nor do they detail its provenance prior to its acquisition by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Overview
Rooster, Hen and Chicken with Spiderwort is a woodblock print created by Katsushika Hokusai around 1832. The work features a serene scene of a rooster, hen, and chick in the presence of blue spiderwort flowers.
Artist & collection
Artist
Katsushika Hokusai spent his life in Edo, now Tokyo, where he drew and carved prints for a living.
