Ears of Barley, Dandelions, and Skylark Nest (Early Summer), number 91 from Rakuzan Kachou Gafu (100 Series)

Label

Amid well-ripened golden barley ears, a skylark has built a nest for its babies. The skylark, an insect captured in its beak, hunts for more food while the small birds swarm towards it, opening their own beaks. 
 
Despite the peaceful atmosphere surrounding the skylark family in this print, Japan was going through a significant economic depression, social conflicts, and ideological struggles in the early 1930s. Tsuchiya Rakusan shares a slight sense of this national anxiety and nervousness in the gaze of the skylark and the desperate movements of the babies here.
 
Title
穂麦たんぽヽに巣雲雀 (初夏)
[Homugi tanpopo ni su hibari (shoka)]
Ears of barley, dandelions, and skylark nest (early summer)
 
Artist signature
楽山作
[Raku-zan saku]

From the 2024 exhibition Attitude of Coexistence: Non-Humans in East Asian Art, curated by Haely Chang, Jane and Raphael Bernstein Associate Curator of East Asian Art

Exhibition History

Attitude of Coexistence: Non-humans in East Asian Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, November 16, 2024-March 1, 2025.

Provenance

Found in collection; catalogued, 2015.

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