| Review: Kuniyoshi at the Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Culture | |
| Monday, 25 May 2009 | |
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The best works by Kuniyoshi explode all over the exhibition walls: full of battling samurai, fantastical animals, and gothic ghoulish creations. Most striking is the set of Warrior prints, a series of characters in full war regalia and some full of movement in decisive battle moments. In "The warrior Morozumi Masakiyo kills himself in battle", a samurai in orange, blue, and green armour, leaps onto a landmine while driving his sword into his mouth. Around him is an explosive blast of light, blowing Morozumi's armour off, cutting through his sword, hair flying, carnage. In "The last stand of the Kusunoki heroes at Shijo-Nawate", Kuniyoshi portrays the morbid side of war, with three warriors struggling through a long triptych print, avoiding flying arrows, with blue faces of death and laughing zombies ahead. In his series of the Chinese Water Margin stories are rippling muscular men, with elaborate tattoos faces full of fearlessness. Even the animals, and in particular a giant snake and wonderful tiger, are just as delicately rendered as the men. Another highlight is "Mitsukuni defies the skeleton spectre conjures up by Princess Takiyaha", where a giant skeleton boldly dominates two thirds of another triptych. In other works, the horizontal panelling of three prints also allows Kuniyoshi to open up a battle across ornate tile roofs and duels on wooden bridges that seem to carry on forever into the distance. After the breathlessness of the action of battle are the Beautiful Women and Landscapes. The attention to detail with women, all with the same idealised face of beauty, is also impressive. Moments are delicate and the tiny delights of eating and dancing bursting below the surface. Landscapes are calming, with lots of sky and sea, but after all the violence, horrors, and beauty, come over as a little plain. Finally the exhibition ends with some Theatre and Humour prints. Providing images of the kabuki actors of the day, Kuniyoshi's interest in plays also allows him to represent stories with magical and supernatural themes such as giant cats. Humour gives us a chance to see Kuniyoshi's funny side, with wrestling octopuses and sparrows attending a brothel. And what better way to end a show than with with some weird sexual postcard prints. After all, when you've seen a skeleton with a phallic skull and a boner (in both senses of the word), then you've seen everything. Despite being over a hundred and fifty years old, Kuniyoshi's prints are as alive and vibrant as they were when first created. A floating world exhibition that leaves you drifting on air. Kwok W Wan |
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With only two weeks to go, Kwok W Wan looks at the current exhibition of 150 works from 19th century Japanese print artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. Utagawa lived from 1797-1861 and was a master of the floating world or ukiyo-e school of art.
