A Crane

Object Details

• Artist

  Ozawa Nankoku (1844 -?)

• Signatures

  Signature reads "Done by Ozawa Nankoku".

• Marks

  Contains one seal; possibly reads: (?) Japan, Ozawa Nankoku (?).

• Label

  A young Japanese crane preens as he steps through a field of ripe rice. Against the autumnal colors of the plants, the crane is portrayed in dramatically large scale, seeming almost to emerge from the painting.

  The artist Ozawa Nankoku studied painting with Okamoto Shuki (1807-1862), who specialized in flower-and-bird painting in Chinese-inspired styles. In this work, however, Nankoku takes an independent and modern approach to a traditional subject. Instead of following the conventional formulas of meticulous brush techniques and formulaic compositional arrangement that usually characterize flower-and-bird subjects, Nankoku has placed the bird in a stark, natural setting and delineated the features of the crane in a strikingly realistic style. Nankoku's painting rejects idealism to portray the image of a living crane. According to a note in the acquisition files of Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), Nankoku was still living when Freer purchased this painting in 1897.

• Provenance

  To 1897

  Rufus E. Moore (1840 - 1918), New York to 1897 [1]

  From 1897 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Rufus E. Moore in 1897 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Kakemono Reserved List, pg. 1, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Birds and Beasts in Japanese Art (January 31 to July 18, 2004)

  Japanese Art of the Meiji Era (September 20, 1997 to April 26, 1998)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Rufus E. Moore (1840-1918) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1800s, 1890s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Moore, Rufus E.

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Japanese Art, Crane, Meiji era (1868 - 1912)

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings