Katsukawa Shunshō

Japan, 1726-1792

Narihira at the Sumida River Watching Capital Birds

Color woodblock print

Image: 8 1/2 x 6 in. (21.5 x 15.3 cm); sheet: 8 1/2 x 6 in. (21.5 x 15.3 cm)

LACMA, Los Angeles County Fund

Photo © 2007 Museum Associates/LACMA

Japanese writing, composed of Chinese ideographs and kana syllabary, is pictographic in origin and as such combines seamlessly with pictorial imagery.

In prints, paintings and decorative arts, the interweaving of poems or bits of famous poetry with associated pictures was continuous from at least the 11^th century forward.

In Western art, words entered pictorial imagery in the early 20^th century with the surrealist movement, stimulating a new look at words, poems, and pictures in Japanese art.

This exhibition shows some of the ways in which words and images have been blended in art since the 18^th century, with a concentration on modern artists’ and poets’ interpretation of mixing single words, continuous prose, or poetry with images.