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“Nue,” 1922–1926, 15 by 10 inches, woodblock print, private collection.

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“Miidera,” 1897–1901, 10 by 15 inches, woodblock print, private collection.

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“Tadanori,” 1897–1901, 10 by 15 inches, woodblock print, private collection.

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TSUKIOKA KÔGYO PRINTS AT PITTSBURGH’S FRICK w/3 cuts

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PITTSBURGH, PENN. — On February 3, an exhibition of more than 70 woodblock prints by Japanese artist Tsukioka Kôgyo opens at The Frick Art Museum.

Kôgyo (1869–1927) was a master of the Japanese woodblock print at the turn of the Twentieth Century and spent much of his working life creating prints that documented the traditions of Noh, a form of Japanese theater dating to the Fourteenth Century. This exhibition presents Kôgyo’s striking images of Noh theater, which function as accomplished and sophisticated individual art works as well as a historical record of Noh customs and performances.

Kôgyo, born Hanyû Bennosuke, was the son of innkeepers in Nihonbashi, Tokyo. When he was 15 years old, his mother married Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, a distinguished master of ukiyo-e printmaking. From his famous stepfather, the young Kôgyo received some of his earliest training in printmaking and painting as well as a new name, Tsukioka. Although their styles and subject matter were different, Kôgyo acquired both a knowledge of print design and an enthusiasm for Noh theater from his stepfather, who had a lifelong fascination with Noh.

Kôgyo began producing his theater woodblock prints in 1897, with “Nôgakuzue (Illustrations of Noh),” an extensive series of 261 images in the horizontal ôban (folio) format. In a second series, “Nôgaku hayakuban (One Hundred Prints of the Noh),” created between 1922 and 1926, he designed a further 120 prints in the vertical format.

At the time of his death in 1927, Kôgyo was working on still another series, “Nôga taikan (A Great Collection of Noh Pictures),” featuring 200 prints, which were completed by Matsuno Sôfû after Kôgyo death.

While Kabuki prints idolized popular actors in their most famous roles, Kôgyo’s Noh prints often focus on the main character and his sumptuous costume by surrounding it by white space. Kôgyo was masterful at using compositional accents, such as a vase of flowers or a glimpse of text, to suggest an important point of the story to knowledgeable viewers.

Kôgyo Noh prints included painterly effects and applied inks in gradated printings, which were produced with extreme care, and the use of metallic embellishment. In addition to his Noh prints, Kôgyo created a number of fine woodcuts dealing with natural history, such as his kochô-e, or bird and flower prints, and was an accomplished painter of both Noh and nature subjects.

Yoshitoshi, and to a much greater degree his stepson Kôgyo, and then Kôgyo’s daughter Gyokusei and disciple Matsuno Sôfû, were key players in the modern popularization of Noh. Kôgyo produced more than three dozen Noh paintings, created three sets of prints (almost 600 individual prints) of Noh and other theater subjects, did 100-plus illustrations of Noh and half as many non-Noh illustrations for Japan’s first graphic magazine, Fûzoku gahô. He also produced small postcard prints to be sold by the Noh publishing house, Wan’ya.

“The Prints of Tsukioka Kôgyo” is organized by the Frick Art & Historical Center and curated by Richard Smethurst, Mae J. Smethurst, Thomas Rimer and Robert Schaap.

The Frick Art & Historical Center is at 7227 Reynolds Street in Point Breeze. For information and reservations, www.frickart.org or 412-371-0600.