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Photo: Susan Cole
Flying
Photo: Susan Cole

Flying

Date1985
Maker Kawachi Seiko Japanese, born 1948
Label TextKawachi Seiko is known for using the traditional woodblock print medium to convey the stress and anxiety of the modern urban condition. Flying chickens, often juxtaposed with cube-like skyscrapers, are a common motif in his work. The placement of the barnyard fowl in a stark cityscape creates an unsettling disquietude as we witness its frantic attempts at flight. A single chicken's movements through the four oversized prints, viewed from right to left, follows the classic East Asian rhetorical convention of ki-sho-ten-ketsu: introduction, development, turn, conclusion. The whirling, circular lines, much like chicken scratches, add a graphic nervous energy to this powerful quartet of prints.
Object number2007.77.1
ProvenancePurchased by the donor at Gallery Baku, Tokyo from artist's solo exhibition, 1980s
Photo CreditPhoto: Susan Cole
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, "Transforming Traditions: Japanese and Korean Art since 1800", May 23, 2009 - February 21, 2010
Credit LineGift of Robert, Takako and Victoria Morehouse, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum
Dimensions65 5/8 x 36 in. (166.6 x 91.4 cm)
MediumWoodblock print; ink on paper
Photo: Susan Cole
Flying
Kawachi Seiko
1985
Object number: 2007.77.2
Photo: Susan Cole
Flying
Kawachi Seiko
1985
Object number: 2007.77.3
Photo: Susan Cole
Flying
Kawachi Seiko
1985
Object number: 2007.77.4
Photo: William Wickett
South Wind, Clear Dawn (Gaifu kaisei), from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjurokkei)
Katsushika Hokusai
ca. 1830-32
Object number: 2010.15
Image Not Available for Tago Beach near Eijiri on the Tokaido Highway, Simplified View (Tokaido Eijiri tago-no-ura ryakuzu), from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjurokkei)
Tago Beach near Eijiri on the Tokaido Highway, Simplified View (Tokaido Eijiri tago-no-ura ryakuzu), from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjurokkei)
Katsushika Hokusai
ca. 1830-33
Object number: 2010.47.2
Image Not Available for Rainstorm beneath the Summit (Sanka haku-u), from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjurokkei)
Rainstorm beneath the Summit (Sanka haku-u), from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjurokkei)
Katsushika Hokusai
ca. 1830-32
Object number: 2010.47.3
Image Not Available for The Poem of Sangi Hitoshi (Minamoto no Hitoshi), from the series One Hundred Poets, One Verse Each, as Told by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)
The Poem of Sangi Hitoshi (Minamoto no Hitoshi), from the series One Hundred Poets, One Verse Each, as Told by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)
Katsushika Hokusai
ca. 1838
Object number: 2010.47.4
Photo: Colleen Kollar Zorn
The Poem of Ariwara no Narihira (Ariwara no Narihira Ason)
Katsushika Hokusai
ca. 1838
Object number: 2010.47.5
Image Not Available for The Poem of Ono no Komachi, from the series One Hundred Poets, One Verse Each, as Told by the Nurse
The Poem of Ono no Komachi, from the series One Hundred Poets, One Verse Each, as Told by the Nurse
Katsushika Hokusai
ca. 1838
Object number: 2010.47.6
Photo: Colleen Kollar Zorn
In the Well of the Wave off Kanagawa, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji
Katsushika Hokusai
1830-32
Object number: 2009.71
Photo: Colleen Kollar Zorn
Yoshida on the Tōkaidō, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji
Katsushika Hokusai
ca. 1830-32
Object number: 2010.47.1
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
Oak Tree
Shikō Munakata
1965
Object number: 2013.4.6