Catching Fireflies (c. 1796–97): Art, History and Details

Catching Fireflies (c. 1796–97) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, c. 1754–1806).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Caught up in a frenzied pursuit of fireflies, one boy has waded into a stream after his quarry, while a younger one watches in anticipation as a young woman thrusts her fan into the air in the hope of capturing hers. In the center of the composition, a girl examines the insects trapped in her elegantly carved cage.

Object facts

• Title: Catching Fireflies
• Date: c. 1796–97
• Creator attribution: Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, c. 1754–1806)
• Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
• Type: Print
• Technique: Triptych of woodblock prints; ink and color on paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 38.2 x 76.8 cm (15 1/16 x 30 1/4 in.)
• Collection: Japanese Art
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1975.98

Collection credit

Gift of Jeptha H. Wade in honor of Emily V. Wade

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1975.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 63, no. 2, 1976, pp. 31–71.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.