Shiko Munakata at the Japan Society

Shiko Munakata (1903-1975) was an original. The Buddhist and local-landscape themes of his woodblock prints exhibit continuity with his Japanese predecessors, on the other hand the crude, nervous vigor of his lines brings to mind German Expressionist painting and prints, while the joyous carnality of his figuration have the appearances to mix Matisse into India's erotic fane sculptures. He first gained attention in Japan in the '30 where he was seen as a kind of bumpkin from the north, on the other hand one with astonishingly sophisticated instincts. He associated with many of the top figures in avant-garde art as well as the philosopher Soetsu Yanagi, planter of the Mingei (folk crafts) change After World War II he gained international recognition, winning prizes at Venice, Sao Paulo and Lugano and showing at Willard in fresh York.

Munakata's work is oftentimes exhibited in Japan and was featured at the Tokyo Mingeikan (Folk Crafts Museum) last May. on the other hand to see his work in the U is an unfortunately rare treat. The Japan Society's exhibition from its collection confirmed the remembered magic. Munakata worked in various mode of expressions and this show made a point of his range. There are almost Persian-carpet-style fields of active figures upon dense floral grounds in the 1954 woodcut panegyric to Flower Hunting. His 1964 "Tokaido" series (after an earlier series of the same title through Hiroshige) includes an astonishingly minimalistic rendition of Mt Fuji as a triangle with three clipped corners--the top the volcanic hole and the two sides cropp through the edges of the arrest with a straight white line, representing the Tokaido road, underscoring the mountain.

Munakata's signature characteristics--his thick and jagged black lines and the cramming of figures into the confines of a woodblock--are best press outed in this show by his 1939/48 hanging list series "The Ten Great Disciples of Buddha" and the 24 prints from a 1945 series called "Eulogy to Shokei" that are mountained on a six-panel screen. aged subjects and old formats are given an explosive novel life. The holy men stand, their hands raised prayerfully, their heads thus compressed by the top of the fill up that sometimes they bend their neck as if straining against it. Here Munakata emphasizes the sharp angles of shoulders and flexures in the contrast of black and white. upon the screen, 19 of the figures are goddesse whose bodies are tattooed with flowers or birds. They coil compactly in their block ups Here he emphasizes the yielding curves of hip, cheek and breast, and call ups fluidity or warmth by applying sky-colored or red pigment to the back of his mulberry paper.

Munakata had real bad eyesight, and famously carved his fill ups by bending so close to them that his nose nearly touched (the exhibition included a photo of him at work). Probably his inability to diocese the whole block led his figures into the corners they keep so uncomfortably, but the ensue is an enormous vitality and a pan-spiritual animation

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