Egrets glide down through falling snow at dusk

A group of white egrets descends through falling snow against a soft grey ground, one bird in the foreground with wings fully spread as it lands beside snow-dusted reeds with russet seed heads. The smaller birds above trail off in a diagonal line toward the upper left, their long legs trailing behind them. The artist's signature and small red seal appear at left. Like the companion heron studies Koson produced in the later part of his career, the print sets a spare winter palette of grey and white against the birds' pale forms for a quiet, wintry mood.

Ohara Koson (1877–1945) was the leading bird-and-flower (kachō-ga) artist of the shin-hanga movement. Trained in Kanazawa and Tokyo in the Shijō painting tradition, he designed prints from around 1900, first for export publishers and from 1926 for Watanabe Shōzaburō under the name Shōson. Herons in snow, crows on a branch, goldfish and sparrows are drawn with a naturalist's precision and printed with soft gradations and embossed feathers. His prints are held by the Rijksmuseum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Printed as a museum-grade giclée on Hahnemühle fine art paper using 12-ink archival pigment printing. Available handframed in FSC-certified wood with optional float glass, or unframed. Ships worldwide with free delivery to 30+ countries.