Reading Book 1930

Narita Morikane made this print called 'Reading Book' sometime in the past, we're not sure when, but it's now at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. What strikes me is the layering and the flattening - how the artist brings together figure and surface in this intimate scene. Look at the kimono, with its bold stripes of green and lavender, how they curve and flow. It's almost like Morikane is thinking about how cloth folds and drapes while also playing with a flat, graphic rhythm. The woman is focused on her book, yet the image in the book is like a mirror held up to her, reflecting her own image back in a kind of loop. Morikane’s print reminds me a bit of Mary Cassatt, another artist who understood the quiet power of women in their daily lives. But Morikane’s got a Japanese flair, that graphic sensibility. It's like they’re both part of this bigger conversation about how we see each other, and how we see ourselves.