Catching Fireflies Beneath a Willow Tree (left)
c. 1796–97
Kitagawa Utamaro
Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, c. 1754–1806)
Japanese Art
Catching Fireflies Beneath a Willow Tree (left), c. 1796–97. Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, c. 1754–1806). Triptych: color woodblock print; sheet: 38.2 x 76.8 cm (15 1/16 x 30 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Jeptha H. Wade in honor of Emily V. Wade 1975.98.c Caught up in a frenzied pursuit of fireflies, one boy has waded into a stream after his quarry, while a younger one watches in anticipation as a young woman thrusts her fan into the air in the hope of capturing hers. In the center of the composition, a girl examines the insects trapped in her elegantly carved cage. A sense of movement is conveyed by their sleeves fluttering in the breeze.
- Maker/Artist
- Kitagawa Utamaro
- Classification
- Formatted Medium
- Triptych: color woodblock print
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 38.2 x 76.8 cm (15 1/16 x 30 1/4 in.)
- Inscribed
- Inscription: Signature: Utamaro hitsu Publisher: Izumiya Ichibei (Senichi han) Censorship Seal: kiwame
- Departments
- Japanese Art
- Accession Number
- 1975.98.c
- Credit Line
- Gift of Jeptha H. Wade in honor of Emily V. Wade
- Exhibitions
- Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation - January-July 2017, Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation, <em>Year in Review 1975</em>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 3-March 7, 1976)., <em>Japanese Woodblock Prints: Themes and Techniques</em>. Cleveland Museum of Art Education Department, Cleveland, OH (1980).
- Rights Statement
- CC0
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