Crows in an Old Tree

Seven raucous crows flit in and around an old tree at dusk, a scene all too common in autumn and winter. In Japanese poetry and painting, crows have long served as signs of the arrival of winter (the autumn season is suggested in this painting by the pink highlights on the tree’s leaves), and, by extension, death. One old folk belief is that a crow’s call may signal the death of someone nearby. Another says that a crow’s call at night is an omen of a fire. This can make them a somewhat gloomy motif. Here, though, Buson’s loose, energetic brushwork lends the scene a sense of liveliness.

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En la misma sala · G221, Instituto de Artes de Mineápolis

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Fuentes

Kite and two crows

Moon Viewing, from The Tale of Heike

Snow Landscape

Farmer Returning Home in Autumn

Sea in Spring

Evening Landscape with Traveler

Three Laughers of Tiger Ravine

Landscape with a Solitary Hut

Kite and two crows, c. 1766–70

Rider [center of a triptych of Three Scenes of Autumn Evening], late 17th century

Landscape [left of a triptych of Three Scenes of Autumn Evening], late 17th century

Landscape [right of a triptych of Three Scenes of Autumn Evening], late 17th century

Votive plaque with painting of a sacred horse, 1695

Crows and Cryptomeria, late 16th century

Owl and Crested Mynas on a Plum Branch, 16th century