The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 15, 2025

Dancing Fox

1900–1910s

Ohara Koson

(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
Location: Not on view

Description

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.
  • ?–2016
    Carol and David Thum, Lakewood, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2016–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Newland, Amy Reigle, Jan Perrée, and Robert Schaap. Crows, Cranes & Camellias: The Natural World of Ohara Koson 1877-1945 Japanese Prints from the Jan Perrée Collection. Leiden: Hotei Pub, 2001. p. 191, no. K41.15
  • {{cite web|title=Dancing Fox|url=false|author=Ohara Koson|year=1900–1910s|access-date=15 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2016.546