Collection Online as of June 3, 2023
(Japanese, 1877–1945)
Color woodcut
Gift in honor of Delbert Gutridge, CMA Registrar 1968-1996 2016.546
Catalogue raisonné: Newland, Perree, and Schapp K41.15
Edition: Edition with grasses in the background.
not on view
In this whimsical Japanese color woodcut, a fox holds a giant green leaf on its head and dances on its hind legs in the rain. A prolific printmaker, Ohara Koson created hundreds of kachōga, a genre encompassing images of nature. Translating characteristics of traditional Japanese painting into color woodcuts, Koson depicted flowers, insects, fish, birds, and mammals. Dancing Fox is one of a few in which he imagined a lighthearted scenario.