Artwork
雪中鴉図|Crow Flying in the Snow
雪中鴉図|Crow Flying in the Snow is an ink painting by the Impressionist artist Kawanabe Kyōsai 河鍋暁斎. It dates from 1887 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Created circa 1887, this album leaf presents a solitary crow soaring across a wintry sky.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Classified as a landscape, the work utilizes ink and color on silk to render the avian subject, which serves as the central focus of the composition.
Created in 1887 by Kawanabe Kyōsai, this album leaf portrays a solitary bird in flight against a snowy backdrop. Classified as a landscape, the work utilizes ink and color on silk to render the avian subject, which serves as the central focus of the composition. The depiction emphasizes the creature's movement through a wintry atmosphere, aligning with traditional Japanese genre painting conventions that often explore the relationship between animals and their natural environments.
Technique & Style
The painting employs ink and light color on silk, mounted as an album leaf. Its small scale and refined support emphasize delicate handling of the subject. Kyōsai renders the crow in quick, assured brushwork, contrasting sharply against the blank, snow-filled ground.
The bird’s silhouette is articulated with minimal ink wash, capturing both movement and stillness in the falling snow. The composition’s stark emptiness focuses attention on the crow, a motif resonant with seasonal symbolism in East Asian ink painting.
Technical traces suggest the silk remains supple, with no record of significant losses or flaking; the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s record notes dimensions of 36.2 cm in height by 27.3 cm in width, consistent with a refined hanging scroll or album presentation.
History & Provenance
The painting Crow Flying in the Snow is dated to 1887, as indicated by its internal record and confirmed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s entry for the work. It was created by Kawanabe Kyōsai during the late 19th century in Japan, where the artist was active. The medium, ink and color on silk, reflects the traditional materials commonly used in Japanese painting of the period.
The work entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is currently held. Its dimensions are recorded as 36.2 cm in height and 27.3 cm in width.
The painting is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, where it is catalogued as an album leaf in their holdings. Its inventory/accession is not specified in the provided sources. The work was executed in 1887 and entered the museum’s collection prior to the documentation captured in the cited sources.
It has not been recorded in any exhibition history within the provided sources.
Overview
Created circa 1887, this album leaf presents a solitary crow soaring across a wintry sky. Executed on silk with ink and subtle colour washes, the composition captures the bird in mid‑flight, its wings fully extended against a backdrop of softly rendered snow. The work belongs to the nihonga tradition, reflecting the artist’s command of classical Japanese materials.
Context
Produced as Japan opened to Western ideas, the painting reflects a synthesis of established ink techniques with a more playful, expressive sensibility. Kyōsai’s reputation as a versatile figure, both a serious painter and a witty caricaturist, manifests here, where formal brushwork coexists with a lively, almost narrative gesture, embodying the cultural shifts of the late nineteenth century.
Artist & collection
Artist
Kawanabe Kyōsai (河鍋 暁斎; May 18, 1831 – April 26, 1889) was a Japanese painter and caricaturist. In the words of art historian Timothy Clark, "an individualist and an independent, perhaps the last virtuoso in traditional Japanese painting".
