Portrait of James A. Michener

This woodblock portrait of James A. Michener, the American author and collector, documents a significant cross-cultural connection in the history of Japanese printmaking. Michener was an avid collector of Japanese prints whose 1959 book "Japanese Prints: From the Early Masters to the Modern" helped introduce the full sweep of Japanese printmaking to Western readers. That Hakutei, a founding figure of the sosaku-hanga movement, chose to make a portrait of this American advocate suggests a relationship of mutual regard. The woodblock medium gives the portrait a directness that photography lacks, with every line bearing the evidence of Hakutei's hand on the carving tool. The print sits at the intersection of East-West cultural exchange that characterized the postwar art world.