Tight Rope Performer
Yasuo KUNIYOSHI
(American, born Japan, 1893 - 1953)
Tight Rope Performer
Date1936
Mediumlithograph
Dimensionssheet: 16 x 11 3/8 in. (40.6 x 28.9 cm)
image: 13 x 9 in. (33 x 22.9 cm)
ClassificationPRINTS
Credit LineLent by the U.S. Government, Federal Art Project
Object numberL.1983.13.24
Subject(s)
- women
Collection
- 20th century American
Sub-Collection(s)
- Modernism
On View
Not on viewLabel TextThe circus performers of French avant-garde artists like Manet and Picasso likely inspired Kuniyoshi’s series of lithographs treating subjects like this one. Kuniyoshi’s performers are typically young women with dark hair, almond eyes, and voluptuous proportions. Though not clearly identifiable, their Asian ethnicity remains a possibility. One wonders if Kuniyoshi’s own ambivalence towards his status as a Japanese immigrant, who regularly experienced discrimination, may be reflected in the melancholic isolation that these single figures often radiate. In this image, the performer balancing on her tiny feet could easily be read as a metaphor for Kuniyoshi’s own balancing act in his efforts to rise in the art world, which culminated in the first retrospective of a living artist presented at the Whitney in 1948.
Utagawa KUNIYOSHI 歌川国芳
1852, 7th month
Utagawa KUNIYOSHI 歌川国芳
first issued ca. late 1830s
