Self-Portrait with Empire State Building
- Date:
- 1959
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Edition:
- Self-printed
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
"Self-Portrait with Empire State Building" from 1959 — year given as printed, with a 1954 catalogue date — places Munakata's face against the most iconic New York landmark, creating a collision between the Japanese printmaker and American urban modernity. The Empire State Building as backdrop for a self-portrait is an assertion of presence: Munakata situating himself within the global visual landscape that his 1956 Venice triumph had made his domain. The juxtaposition of his carved Japanese face and the American skyscraper is quietly comic and deeply characteristic — his self-portraits often had this quality of unforced wit.
1960
Woodblock print
Shôwa period, 1926-1989
Woodblock print
1939-68
Woodblock print
1939 (printed 1955)
Woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Self-Portrait with Empire State Building was created by Shiko Munakata (棟方志功) in 1959.
Self-Portrait with Empire State Building depicts architecture and portraits.
