Fisherman 1924

Yasuo Kuniyoshi made this drawing, Fisherman, using ink on paper. Kuniyoshi was a Japanese-born American artist. The flattened perspective and dreamlike imagery in this work are typical of the interwar period when many artists turned away from realism in the face of political and social upheaval. We might consider it alongside the paintings of the surrealists, who sought to unlock the powers of the unconscious mind. The drawing contains visual codes such as the fisherman, fish and cow, and cultural references, such as the flattened perspective reminiscent of traditional Japanese printmaking. Given the artist’s biography, perhaps the cultural dislocation of the immigrant experience found expression in his art. Historical associations, such as the impact of the Second World War on Japanese Americans might also be relevant. In order to understand it better, we need to consider the artist’s personal history, and the institutional context in which he was working. By attending to these different sources of information, we can begin to appreciate art as something contingent on social and political context.