Whiskers & Wings · Album leaf · Kawanabe Kyōsai, c. 1887
Crow and the Moon
The crow that once sold for a hundred yen.
The Work
A single crow perches on a thick branch, with a round moon showing through the boughs below. An album leaf painted almost entirely in ink.
Look Closer
The crow is a deep black of layered ink. The moon is hardly painted at all — a soft wash around it makes it appear.
The Artist
In 1870 a caricature Kyōsai drew at a drinking party was judged insulting to officials. He was jailed, reportedly flogged — and kept on drawing satire.
The Artist
At the 1881 national exhibition his painting of a crow won a prize and sold for an unheard-of 100 yen. Crows became his signature.
Japan at the Time
In Meiji Tokyo, electric lights began to follow the gas lamps. Moonlit nights were slowly giving way to brighter ones.
Culture & Values
In Japanese myth, a three-legged crow, Yatagarasu, guided the first emperor. It still appears on the Japan Football Association's emblem.
Meanwhile, in the World
In 1887, construction of the Eiffel Tower began in Paris, for the World's Fair two years later.
Afterward
The British architect Josiah Conder became Kyōsai's pupil. After Kyōsai died in 1889, Conder wrote a book introducing his teacher's work in English.
Listen while you look
Ten quiet minutes with this work alone, with Crow And The Moon and The Hundred-Yen Crow — or keep going through the full hour of Whiskers & Wings.
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Printed to order and shipped worldwide.
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