by Leo Kent

If you entered this exhibition without prior knowledge of the artist or the era and had to date these paintings, I guarantee most would say not before the mid-twentieth century, some would even say contemporary. It is astonishing to discover, however, that these are in fact mid-nineteenth century woodblock prints from Edo (modern Tokyo) by Utagawa Kuniyoshi.

Kuniyoshi was one of the four main exponents of ukiyo-e or ‘floating world’. The other three leaders in this school were Hokasai, Hiroshige and Kunisada. One of the main reasons for its contemporary look is because “manga” – the current Japanese style of cartoons, comics and animated films that is extremely popular in the East – has borrowed so greatly from Kuniyoshi’s style.

In comparison to western radicals contemporaneous to Kunisyushi such as the Impressionists, the Japanese artist’s work still looks modern; Monet and Renoir in contrast, while positively avant-garde in their day, today are trapped within the confines of history. Indeed it is interesting to see that important forefathers of modernism in Paris were great admirers of the ‘floating word’ school. Professor Arthur R. Miller who has lent the majority of Kuniyoshi paintings for this exhibition at the Royal Academy says, “ Monet, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec…they all were aware of the Japanese woodblock prints.”

You only need to look at Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” to see a clear resemblance and empathy with the dreaminess of Kuniyoshi’s mythical works. One of the standout works is a triptych – a form he must have been very fond of due to the amount he produced- entitled “Onimake-maru about to kill a giant red carp (1845-6)” which depicts the legend of the Japanese monk Benkai, attempting to kill a giant carp that had plagued the villagers and eaten his mother. The fish-monster and swirling vortex of water runs over the three paintings, binding the triptych together.

Perhaps also another link to modern art is the notion of mass production through printing similar to Warhol and contemporary London street artist Adam Neate who produces thousands of prints every year. Kuniyoshi made his art affordable by the use of woodblock printing, his most popular prints sold up to 8, 000 impressions each, with it costing only a little more than a double helping of soba noodles.

This exhibition contains over 150 works by Kuniyoshi divided into five themes: warriors, beautiful women, landscapes, theatre and humour. It is perhaps in the first category that his most famous works can be found such as “ Sakato Kaido-maru wrestles with a giant carp” from the late 1830s – yes, there are quite a few works that dwell on oversized carp. In it a rounded, pink adolescent tackles a carp double his size. The image very is much like manga with its cartoonish disproportions. The action is set against the rich, deep blue of the water. To create this dark blue, Kuniyoshi used Prussian Blue, a synthetic pigment which had been recently developed in Berlin. Prussian Blue became a signature colour throughout his work and in this collection this dark tone creeps into most of the works.

The lesser known but perhaps more curious of Kuniyoshi’s works can be found in the humour section. Of particular interest is “Octopus games” from the early 1840s that depicts clothe-wearing, anthropomorphic Octopuses prancing about and playing games. Kuniyoshi aptly described this genre of painting as “crazy pictures”.

Many of these pictures wouldn’t look out of place in a western comic strip. Though one of the reasons for the creation of these ‘crazy pictures’ is far from amusing. The aggressive Samurai government of the day banned certain subjects such Geishas or past rulers, from being depicted in the arts. As a result Kuniyoshi was forced to replace humans with animals in certain paintings to circumvent the wrath of the rulers. This can be seen most clearly in one ‘crazy picture’ that depicts a brothel, the only oddity being that all the Geishas are in fact sparrows.