Young Lovers Walking Together under an Umbrella in a Snow Storm (Crow and Heron)
ca. 1769
Medium
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
H. 10 1/8 in. (25.7 cm); W. 7 1/2 in. (19.1 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
Accession Number
JP1627
Tags
Art Historical Context
Suzuki Harunobu's *Young Lovers Walking Together under an Umbrella in a Snow Storm (Crow and Heron)*, created around 1769, captures a tender moment from Japan's Edo period (1615–1868). This woodblock print, measuring just 10 1/8 by 7 1/2 inches, belongs to the ukiyo-e tradition—the "pictures of the floating world"—which celebrated everyday pleasures, romance, and beauty amid urban life in Edo (modern Tokyo). Harunobu, a pioneering artist, helped revolutionize printmaking by introducing full-color nishiki-e techniques just a few years earlier, using layered inks to achieve vibrant, lifelike hue...
About the Artist
Suzuki Harunobu · 1725–1770
Suzuki Harunobu (c. 1725-1770) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist who revolutionized woodblock printing by developing nishiki-e—full-color prints using multiple woodblocks—in 1765. Before Harunobu, Japanese prints were limited to two or three colors; his innovation unleashed the entire artist's palette, transforming ukiyo-e into the vibrant art form that would later captivate Western artists from Manet...