1910 (ca.), Shimomura Kanzan, Cormorants (detail) -- National Museum of Asian Art (Washington)
From the museum label: How do you capture the darkest time of day? Japanese painters, like those in many other cultures, have found multiple ways to render the night. In many examples, night is merely suggested by adding the moon and other contextual clues, like in this painting. Cormorant fishing was traditionally done at night to attract fish to the light of torches so the cormorants could catch them. The inherently cruel practice--tying the birds' necks to prevent them from swallowing their prey--was romanticized in plays, poetry, and paintings.
1910 (ca.), Shimomura Kanzan, Cormorants (detail) -- National Museum of Asian Art (Washington)
From the museum label: How do you capture the darkest time of day? Japanese painters, like those in many other cultures, have found multiple ways to render the night. In many examples, night is merely suggested by adding the moon and other contextual clues, like in this painting. Cormorant fishing was traditionally done at night to attract fish to the light of torches so the cormorants could catch them. The inherently cruel practice--tying the birds' necks to prevent them from swallowing their prey--was romanticized in plays, poetry, and paintings.