1957, Hiratsuka Un'ichi, Portrait of James Michener -- National Museum of Asian Art (Washington)
From the museum label: Having first visited Japan as a member of the US military, James Michener (1907-1997) became a prolific fiction author and promoter of sösaku hanga. Portrait of James Michener is modeled after Édouard Manet's 1868 portrait of the French novelist and playwright Emile Zola, which shows Zola surrounded by Japanese artworks. In depicting Michener, the artist Hiratsuka Un'ichi has included one of his own works in the top right corner. Titled Bunraku Puppet "Yaoya Oshichi," it is also in the museum's collections and displayed on the right. In addition to including an image in the lower left of a print by fellow sösaku hanga artist Munakata Shiko, whose work is on view in the next gallery, Hiratsuka has also included images that represent traditional Japanese woodblock prints of the ukiyo-e tradition, giving the portrait a layered composition. This self-referential quality suggests Michener's deep knowledge of the art form, displayed below in his influential volume The Modern Japanese Print: An Appreciation. Michener's publications propelled the careers of the contemporary artists he featured.
1957, Hiratsuka Un'ichi, Portrait of James Michener -- National Museum of Asian Art (Washington)
From the museum label: Having first visited Japan as a member of the US military, James Michener (1907-1997) became a prolific fiction author and promoter of sösaku hanga. Portrait of James Michener is modeled after Édouard Manet's 1868 portrait of the French novelist and playwright Emile Zola, which shows Zola surrounded by Japanese artworks. In depicting Michener, the artist Hiratsuka Un'ichi has included one of his own works in the top right corner. Titled Bunraku Puppet "Yaoya Oshichi," it is also in the museum's collections and displayed on the right. In addition to including an image in the lower left of a print by fellow sösaku hanga artist Munakata Shiko, whose work is on view in the next gallery, Hiratsuka has also included images that represent traditional Japanese woodblock prints of the ukiyo-e tradition, giving the portrait a layered composition. This self-referential quality suggests Michener's deep knowledge of the art form, displayed below in his influential volume The Modern Japanese Print: An Appreciation. Michener's publications propelled the careers of the contemporary artists he featured.