Woodcut, etching, aquatint and ink on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
Hawaii Snorkel Series
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/masami-teraoka-6728" aria-label="More by Masami Teraoka" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Masami Teraoka</a>
Kunisada Eclipsed
Presented by Tyler Graphics Ltd in honour of Pat Gilmour, Tate Print Department 1974-7, 2004
actions: processes and functions
adults
Asian
Chinese / Japanese text
clothing and personal items
coast
desire
dress: nations/regions
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
ethnicity
fine arts and music
flipper
humour
inscriptions
Japan
Japanese
leisure and pastimes
looking / watching
man
man, old
nationality
objects
parasol
people
print, Japanese
reading, writing, printed matter
scroll
sea
seascapes and coasts
sex and relationships
shock
snorkel
snorkelling
society
sport
sports and games
swimming costume
symbols and personifications
universal concepts
voyeurism
wave
woman
<p>Japanese-born Masami Teraoka combines the influences of traditional Japanese art forms and American Pop art, exploiting the cultural and temporal disparities between the traditional style and the contemporary issues and ideas which form his subject matter. After training with traditional Japanese masters, Teraoka moved to Los Angeles to study Western art in 1961. From the 1970s, he began painting watercolours, and later prints, which mimicked the appearance of ukiyo-e, Japanese woodblock prints of the Edo Period (1615-1868). In these works, he creates scenes using characters from Kabuki theatre, geisha and samurai, recreating the characteristic dramatic landscapes of the prints, and incorporating cartouches and calligraphy. Teraoka draws on an affinity between these ‘floating world’ prints, which were mass-produced for an emerging bourgeois market, and the work of the Pop artists, who celebrated mass-production and low forms of culture.</p>
paper print woodcut etching aquatint ink
2 April 2022 – 2 July 2022
2022-07-02
2 April 2022 – 2 July 2022
2022-07-02
2022-04-02
Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum (Worcester, UK)
2022-04-02
Japanese Masters - a New Realm in Design
Loan-out
Kunisada Eclipsed
image: 656 × 1156 mm
Presented by Tyler Graphics Ltd in honour of Pat Gilmour, Tate Print Department 1974-7, 2004
<p>Japanese-born Masami Teraoka combines the influences of traditional Japanese art forms and American Pop art, exploiting the cultural and temporal disparities between the traditional style and the contemporary issues and ideas which form his subject matter. After training with traditional Japanese masters, Teraoka moved to Los Angeles to study Western art in 1961. From the 1970s, he began painting watercolours, and later prints, which mimicked the appearance of ukiyo-e, Japanese woodblock prints of the Edo Period (1615-1868). In these works, he creates scenes using characters from Kabuki theatre, geisha and samurai, recreating the characteristic dramatic landscapes of the prints, and incorporating cartouches and calligraphy. Teraoka draws on an affinity between these ‘floating world’ prints, which were mass-produced for an emerging bourgeois market, and the work of the Pop artists, who celebrated mass-production and low forms of culture. 
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<br/>With these works, Teraoka aims for what he terms a ‘metaphorical’ rather than physical representation of reality. He says:
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<br/>‘Mere depiction of social and cultural issues is not enough. My work has to create something that goes beyond simple perception. To make a strong statement, art needs timeless aesthetic qualities. These can take any subject matter to a higher level of experience. That is the essence of what I am pursuing.’ (<i>Paintings by Masami Teraoka</i>, 1996, p.55.)
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<br/>This is one of four large prints that make up the portfolio <i>Hawaii Snorkel Series</i>, produced under the supervision of Kenneth E. Tyler over a period of two years from May 1991 to May 1993. Teraoka combined woodblock techniques with etching and aquatint. While the distinct black lines in traditional ukiyo-e are achieved through overprinting with a second wooden block, at Tyler’s suggestion Teraoka used etching and aquatint on a copper plate to achieve a similar effect and a further range of tonal areas.
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<br/>Like all Teraoka’s prints,<i> Longing Samurai </i>combines the characteristic stylised landscape and composition of ukiyo-e prints with Teraoka’s personal iconography and contemporary references. The Kunisada of the title is an ukiyo-e artist known as Toyokuni III, who appears in the centre of the picture. Teraoka depicts him visiting Hawaii in a dream. Teraoka explains the narrative:
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<br/>‘While he is drawing fish at Hanama Bay, he is startled by an American woman who unexpectedly stands up in front of him. He forgets the fish he was drawing and, of course, the solar eclipse he can no longer see. He is enthralled by the view and tries to hide his emotions from the blushing assistant who is preparing ink for him.’ (Masami Teraoka, 1993, unpaginated.)
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<br/>The text on the right edge of the image refers to the Kabuki theatre references within the print, approximately translating as: ‘A new play. A scene during the American tour. Suddenly the bright day is covered and the rain begins to fall.’ The characters on the scroll Kunisada is working on translate as ‘drawing a swimming fish in a summer’s sea.’ Text on the left of the image cheekily declares the sight of the woman’s scantily clad bottom as: ‘A super view: better than an eclipse.’ The woman is identified as ‘American woman: Marabeth Cohen’.
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<br/>A cartouche in the top right corner represents Yamakaya/Masami, a reference both to the artist and his family’s kimono shop. Elsewhere, the date of the design for the print, 1991, and the artist’s age at that time, fifty-five, are revealed. Ken Tyler, the master printmaker who supervised the production of the print in his workshop, is acknowledged with an inscription on the fan at the centre of the image.
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<br/>The portfolio was produced in an edition of thirty. Proofs for this print include ten AP, four TP, two CTP, two WP, RTP, PP I, PP II, TGL Imp., and Archive.
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<br/><b>Further reading:</b></p>
<p>Masami Teraoka and Kenneth E. Tyler,<i> Masami Teraoka: Hawaii Snorkel Series</i>, 1993, reproduced in colour, unpaginated.</p>
<p><i>Paintings by Masami Teraoka</i>, exhibition catalogue, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C., 1996, reproduced p.86 in colour.</p>
<p><i>Masami Teraoka: From Tradition to Technology, the Floating World Comes of Age</i>, exhibition catalogue, Chikumagawa Highway Museum, Obuse, Japan, 1997.
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<br/>Maria Bilske
<br/>April 2006</p>
<p></p>

Summary
2007-01-22T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
actions: processes and functions adults Asian Chinese / Japanese text clothing and personal items coast desire dress: nations/regions emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas ethnicity fine arts and music flipper humour inscriptions Japan Japanese leisure and pastimes looking / watching man man, old nationality objects parasol people print, Japanese reading, writing, printed matter scroll sea seascapes and coasts sex and relationships shock snorkel snorkelling society sport sports and games swimming costume symbols and personifications universal concepts voyeurism wave woman