Portrait of Munakata Shikô (1905-1975), Shôwa period, dated 1968

"Portrait of Munakata Shiko" (dated 1968 in the title) — a woodblock print from the Showa period — is a portrait of the artist himself, but created as a woodblock print rather than a photograph or painting. This self-portrait in printmaking is characteristic of the medium's intimate relationship between the maker and the made: the artist carving their own face into wood, creating a self-image that passes through the physical resistance of the material. By 1968, Munakata was internationally celebrated, and this portrait — whether self-made or made by another hand — documents the face at the height of that fame.