Word: munakata
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...Munakata does not always maintain the virtuoso standards of this religious series. Lapses occur when he adds colored ink to the black and white woodcut. Munakata, it seems, is not in any way as gifted a colorist as he is a draftsman. His heavy, almost garish, coloring emphasizes how far he has turned from the nice distinctions of tone and shade in eighteenth and nineteenth century Japanese prints. This very simple style, more Western than Oriental, mainly produces naive results; the childish, pseudo-folk art atmosphere of Stones in Water and Hawk Woman is most disturbing. However, the best color...
...Paul Schuster Art Gallery is displaying now a good cross section of the woodcuts of Shiko Munakata, preeminent among modern Japanese printmakers. From this show, it is plain that Munakata has much in common with Western graphic artists, especially the Expressionists Nolde and Heckel. At the same time, Munakata does not deny his Oriental heritage; the masterful balance of simple forms, a famous feature of old Japanese prints, can be found in almost every work of this exhibit...
...Munakata's themes derive from conventional Japanese subjects-religious figures, folk tales and landscapes. Certainly the most impressive are the big prints of four of the Buddha's disciples. Here, Munakata's simple and strident forms recall Indian and Japanese Buddhist paintings, while suggesting the forcefulness of the best of the German Expressionists. Though the prints may lack the mystical introspection of earlier Oriental religious works, their clarity and technical control show how adept and proficient a master Munakata...
...Engraving Prize ($400): to Japan's Shiko Munakata, 53, short, unshaven and extremely nearsighted, famed for his rough, violent drawing technique, who showed six engravings...