Prints keep history alive

“The Prints of Tsukioka Kogyo”

The Frick Art Museum

Point Breeze…

“The Prints of Tsukioka Kogyo”

The Frick Art Museum

Point Breeze

Through April 7

(412) 371-0600

The process sounds simple enough. There is a primary woodblock, known as a key block, stained black with ink. On a secondary block, each side contains elements to be printed in a single color. But the composite image created from these two blocks reveals the true complexity and elegant art of woodblock printing.

The Frick Art Museum will exhibit more than 70 woodblock prints by artist Tsukioka Kogyo until April 7. Kogyo created prints that documented the traditions of Noh, a form of Japanese theater dating to the 14th century. Receiving training from his stepfather, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, Kogyo became a master of the Japanese woodblock print at the turn of the 20th century.

Noh theater originates from the 14th century, when troupes traveled to temples, shrines and festivals, and is derived from the Japanese word no, meaning talent or skill. Troupe leader Kan’ami Kiyotsuga and his son, Zeami Motokiyo, combined theatrical traditions to form Noh. Zeami wrote at least 20 plays that are still performed today and several treatises about Noh.

Kogyo’s Noh prints feature a main character and emphasize the elaborate attire worn by the figure – the emphasis is achieved by surrounding the character in white space.

This stress on character and costume can be seen in Kogyo’s work “Tadanori,” in which the main figure is surrounded by white space. Variously colored butterflies pop from the dark blue costume, while a bright red found on the tip of a fan and on a sleeve contrasts with the blue and attracts the eye. In “Miidera,” the female figure floats in white space. Her simple costume is distinguished without a busy background.

Kogyo also accented his prints with objects or text that stress an important point of the story to his viewers. In his print “Shojo,” Kogyo includes a green vat and uses the trompe l’oeil technique by making the print appear as one page turning to reveal another. On the page that is revealed, an orangutan is depicted.

In the story of Shojo, a man named Ko-fu is told in a dream to sell wine in order to become wealthy. Ko-fu follows the advice and receives the reward promised in his dream. Shojo, a regular costumer, claims he lives in the sea. In the print, he dances before the vat in a colorful costume. The orangutan, an animal associated with Shojo, sits under a tree.

Kogyo’s prints also use metallic embellishments to create painterly effects. Besides his Noh prints, Kogyo also created woodcuts that depict natural subjects. In “Chrysanthemums and Stream,” a gold background contrasts with blue water. Embossing, accomplished by dampening the paper and burnishing it against a separate carved block, defines each flower petal.

In another natural scene, “Mouse and Radish,” Kogyo depicts a mouse nibbling on the red vegetable. The leaves of the radish curve upward, creating a line that adds an elegant curve to the composition.

Kogyo produced more than three dozen Noh paintings, created three sets of prints and did more than 100 illustrations of Noh. In doing so, his prints created a record of Noh’s customs and performances.

To experience Kogyo’s Noh prints, a selection of his bird and nature prints and a few of his rarely shown paintings, visit the Frick Art Museum between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.