Japanese Print "Common Kingfisher and Hydrangeas" by Utagawa Hiroshige
Artist:Utagawa Hiroshige
Title:Common Kingfisher and Hydrangeas
Date:about 1836
Details:More information...
Source:Worcester Art Museum
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Description:
The Common Kingfisher (kawasemi) has traditionally been associated with early summer when one can admire its iridescent blue-green and red feathers as the bird flies over streams looking to catch fish. Hydrangeas (ajisai) are similarly associated with the rainy, early-summer season when the blossoms shift in colors from purples and blues to pinks. The Kingfisher, one of Hiroshige's favorite bird subjects, is here depicted plunging towards the hydrangea. Allowing us to understand why the kingfisher had been tempted to dive, the blossoms are rendered without outlines-as if consisting of fragrant water which also reflects a blue shade into the air. The haiku reads: Hydrangeas! They do not bloom in water, Yet they seem to hold it. Ajisai ya / mizu ni sakanedo / mizu kusashi The earliest impressions of this print, issued by the publisher Jakurindo (Wakasaya Yoichi), are printed with yellow shading in the leaves and in the sky (ten-bokashi).
