Tsukioka Kogyo

Titled with a reference to Tsukioka Kogyo, the Meiji-era artist celebrated for his Noh theater prints, this woodblock print by Arai Shori may depict a Noh-related subject or was cataloged alongside Kogyo's work at the Art Institute of Chicago. Tsukioka Kogyo (1869-1927) produced the definitive series of Noh performance prints, and his name appearing in connection with Shori's work suggests either a shared subject or a collection context in which the two artists' prints were grouped. Shori's engagement with theatrical or literary subjects, if that is the case here, would connect the artist to a rich vein of Japanese printmaking that has documented the performing arts for over three centuries.