Living Proof: Drawing in 19th-Century Japan

The Pulitzer Arts Foundation presents Living Proof: Drawing in 19th-Century Japan, an exhibition that will explore the methods, techniques, and subjects of drawings during Japan’s late Edo (1603–1868) and early Meiji (1868–1912) periods. The exhibition will highlight some key practitioners, as well as the primary role of drawing as the first step in the process of creating ukiyo-e woodblock prints. In so doing, it will shed light on a body of work that, while compellingly expressive and frequently virtuoso in execution, was not treated as an independent art form at the time, lacking even a uniform terminology to describe it. With nearly eighty drawings, on loan from public and private collections nationwide, this is the first museum exhibition of its kind in over thirty years.

Living Proof has been organized by the Pulitzer and is co-curated by independent curator Kit Brooks and Pulitzer Associate Curator Tamara H. Schenkenberg. It is on view from November 3, 2017, through March 3, 2018.

Tamara H. Schenkenberg states, “The drawings on view in Living Proof were largely conceived as one step on a pathway to a final product—a woodblock print—and were thus evanescent, created with the expectation of being destroyed. To view the works in this exhibition as 'living proofs' is thus to celebrate their unlikely survival. At the same time, by highlighting the often-unseen improvisations, alterations, and even imperfections that have been excluded from histories of printmaking in Japan, Living Proof reframes these drawings as artworks in their own right, bearing witness to the artist’s creative role in this process.”

Living Proof includes sketches by some of the most celebrated print artists of the era, including Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), the Japanese artist perhaps best known among audiences in the West, Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798–1861), widely considered to be one of the most imaginative artists of 19th century Japan, and Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839–92), one of Kuniyoshi’s most gifted pupils. Including sketches, books, and woodblock prints, Living Proofoffers an in-depth perspective on the lesser-known process and context of drawing from this era of Japanese printmaking.

Companion Exhibition In a small companion exhibition, three modern-day independent animated films from Japan will be interspersed among the 19th century Japanese drawings in Living Proof, highlighting a continuum from drawings on paper to moving images. Titled Rough Cut: Independent Japanese Animation, this exhibition has been curated by Pulitzer Arts Foundation Assistant Curator Stephanie Weissberg, and will include works by Noburō Ōfuji (1900–61), Yoji Kuri (b. 1928), and Maya Yonesho (b. 1965). The films, which were produced outside of mainstream commercial studios, will highlight compelling innovations from early silent film to contemporary experimentation with collage and stop-motion.