Featured Artist: Koson (aka Shoson, Hoson)

Koson Ohara (aka Shoson or Hoson) was a master of early 20th century kacho-e (bird-and-flower pictures). With meticulous detail, soft color, and a palpable reverence for flora and fauna, Koson carried the genre into the modern era. Koson was born in Kanazawa with the given name Matao Ohara. He began his artistic career studying painting under the Shijo-style master Kason. Around the turn of the century, Koson became a teacher at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, where he met Ernest Fenollosa, an American collector, scholar and admirer of Japanese art and culture. Around 1905, Koson started to produce woodblock prints. Fenollosa, the curator of Japanese Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and an adviser to the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, persuaded Koson to export his bird prints to American art collectors.

Between 1900 and 1912, Koson Ohara worked with a number of different publishers and designed a few Russo-Japanese War prints, as well as genre landscapes, but his passion remained with kacho-e. His earliest and rarest designs were notable for their narrow formats and soft colors. All prints were signed or sealed Koson. A majority of them were published by Kokkeido and Daikokuya. After 1912, he changed his name to Shoson and dedicated himself to painting.

Ten years later, Koson returned to printmaking. In 1926, Koson began designing woodblock prints for the famed Shin Hanga publisher Shozaburo Watanabe. Koson changed his name once again, this time to Hoson, when he produced designs collaboratively published by Sakai and Kawaguchi around 1930. He also served as an adviser to the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo. As Koson Ohara used numerous names and seals over the years, dating his work can be difficult. Some of his woodblock prints were published in different editions with variations in color. His prints and paintings can be found in major museums worldwide, such as the Freer Gallery, the Museum of Fine Art Boston and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to name but a few.

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Availability

  • Available
  • Archive

Price

4200490

Artist

  • Hoson
  • Koson
  • Shoson

Subject

  • Animals & Fish
  • Autumn
  • Birds
  • Bridges
  • Flowers & Gardens
  • Moon & Night
  • Nature
  • Rain
  • Spring
  • Summer
  • Waterscapes
  • Winter

Period

  • 1868 - 1912 (Meiji)
  • 1912 - 1945 (Taisho & Early Showa)

Medium

  • Woodblock Print

Size

  • Small (ie. Chuban)
  • Medium (ie. Oban)
  • Large (ie. Triptych)

29 Products

Deer Near Waterside

Shoson

Deer Near Waterside

JP1-49020

$1,600.00
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Mallards in Autumn

Shoson

Mallards in Autumn

JPR5254

$1,980.00
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Flight of Pheasant

Koson

Flight of Pheasant

JPR5385

$1,200.00
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Quails

Koson

Quails

JP1-49013

SOLD

Cockatoo on a Red Bar

Shoson

Cockatoo on a Red Bar

JPR5339

$2,700.00
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Starlings in Flight During Rain Storm

Koson

Starlings in Flight During Rain Storm

JPR5337

$1,800.00
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Three Tree Sparrows in Flight Next to Large Banana Leaves

Koson

Three Tree Sparrows in Flight Next to Large Banana Leaves

JPR-98083

SOLD

Pheasant in Flight Between Trees

Koson

Pheasant in Flight Between Trees

JP1-49074

$4,200.00
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Pigeons and Cherry Blossoms

Koson

Pigeons and Cherry Blossoms

JP5461

$1,800.00
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Stonechat and Cotton Rose

Koson

Stonechat and Cotton Rose

JP5452

$1,900.00
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Two Chicks Fighting Over a Butterfly

Koson

Two Chicks Fighting Over a Butterfly

JP5048

$1,800.00
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Grey Heron Looking Down from a Tree

Koson

Grey Heron Looking Down from a Tree

JP1-49066

$4,200.00
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Mallard on Stump

Koson

Mallard on Stump

JP1-49072

$1,700.00
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Snow at Yanagibashi

Shoson

Snow at Yanagibashi

JPR1-55812

SOLD

Three Red Carp, Water Plant Above

Shoson

Three Red Carp, Water Plant Above

JPR-208133

SOLD

Peacock and Peahen on Pine Tree

Koson

Peacock and Peahen on Pine Tree

JPR-208130

SOLD

Wild Geese

Shoson

Wild Geese

JP1-49052

SOLD

Carrion Crow on Snow-covered Willow

Shoson

Carrion Crow on Snow-covered Willow

JPR5371

SOLD

A Couple of Pheasants in the Snow

Koson

A Couple of Pheasants in the Snow

JP1-49032

$980.00
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Three Sparrows in Spring Shower

Koson

Three Sparrows in Spring Shower

JPR5319

SOLD

Two Swallows Aiming for Bee

Koson

Two Swallows Aiming for Bee

JPR-111896

SOLD

Crows in Moonlight

Shoson

Crows in Moonlight

JPR-208158

SOLD

Cranes on Sea Shore

Shoson

Cranes on Sea Shore

JPR-208157

SOLD

Pigeon in Flight and Blossoming Cherry Tree

Shoson

Pigeon in Flight and Blossoming Cherry Tree

JPR-208131

SOLD