Traditions Transfigured: The Noh Masks of Bidou Yamaguchi

Traditions Transfigured: The Noh Masks of Bidou Yamaguchi is an exhibition in the University Library Gallery at Sacramento State that is showing from February 11 - May 21, 2016.  The masks of Yamaguchi are showcased throughout the space of the gallery in addition to displays that explain the process of making Noh masks.  The front part of the exhibition also offers some footage of actual Noh performances. 

Noh is a classical form of Japanese musical theater dating back to the fourteenth century that is very complex and "ritualized" in the sense that great skill and precise steps are needed for a proper performance.  Even the slightest tilt of a Noh actor's head conveys a wide range of emotions when he or she wears an iconic Noh mask.  All of Yamaguchi's masks are made out of the traditional Japanese cypress used for carving the masks.  An accompanying video showing one of Yamaguchi's masks of a middle-aged Japanese woman offers a visual for the wide range of emotions that can be conveyed through a slight tilt of the mask.  A mirror with masks allows viewers to try on a couple Noh masks.  Nearby is a display and projector screen also showing the step-by-step and painstaking process of creating a Noh mask.  The video of the Noh performances near the show's entrance is also informative of how a Noh performance looks, sounds, and "feels" like (also helped by the ambient Noh music that played in the gallery space).  Additional woodblock prints relating to Noh theater are also hung near the show exhibition entrance to help establish the context of Noh and the "atmosphere" of this particular exhibition.

 Tsukioka Kogyo, Pictures of Noh Plays: Noh Stage, 1910, colored ink woodblock on paper.

 A display showing the steps for carving a Noh mask.

However, Yamaguchi's masks are the real standout pieces in this exhibition, which are immediately noticeable with their haunting and spectral forms in clear display cases.  Most of Yamaguchi's masks in Traditions Transfigured carry a contemporary connotation, but some near the entrance, such as Shojou (Drunken Imp), 2003, seem to carry a more "traditional" perspective with their subject matter and characters they represent.  Other masks, such as Edobei, relate to Japanese culture but do so with from a contemporary perspective because the character of Edobei is from kabuki, which is highly stylized dance-theater (less "conservative" than Noh) where the actors wear elaborate make-up.  Although both kabuki and Noh actors use masks, Yamaguchi adds his own personal touch by portraying Edobei as the character from Toshusai Sharaku's iconic woodblock print.  Sharaku, a renowned eighteenth-century woodblock portraitist, and his "persona" seem to fit well with the ghostly Noh masks because his true identity was never known.  Sharaku portrayed the kabuki actor, Oniji Otani III, as the villainous servant with a menacing, exaggerated scowl to show Edobei's questionable character.  Edobei is also notable because most of the masks in this show are of European women in European art.

 Bidou Yamaguchi, Shojou (Drunken Imp), 2003, Japanese cypress, seashell, natural pigment, and Japanese lacquer. 

 Yamaguchi, Edobei, 2011, Japanese cypress, seashell, natural pigment, and Japanese lacquer.

Toshusai Sharaku, Oniji Otani III in the Role of the Servant Edobei, 1794, colored ink woodblock on paper.  Sharaku's print is the inspiration for Yamaguchi's Edobei mask (a reprint of the original woodblock appears in the show).

In addition to his portrayal of Edobei (and even his reference to the mysterious artist, Sharaku), Yamaguchi seems to emphasize a dialogue of identity.  The masks of women are grouped together in a way that paintings might be organized.  However, while Dr. Kendall Brown acknowledges how Yamaguchi is combining a contemporary perspective with Noh tradition, he adds that identity is another key aspect of Yamaguchi's work, particularly that of the female portraits.  Noh might even be considered a gendered realm because most of the actors are men, who play both male and female roles on stage.  In Traditions Transfigured, Yamaguchi not only addresses the role of gender in traditional Noh theater and Japanese culture but also that in European art and Western culture.  Female icons, such as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa and Jan Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, are now portrayed in three-dimensional form.

 Yamaguchi, Mona Lisa, 2007, Japanese cypress, seashell, natural pigment, and Japanese lacquer.

 Yamaguchi, Girl with a Pearl Earring, 2005, Japanese cypress, seashell, natural pigment, and Japanese lacquer.

  
Brown noted how the masks in this exhibition are supposed to imbue these female icons with a sort of "life," so they at least convey the "ghosts" of these female characters.  Central to the theme of identity in this exhibition is the idea that all of these women have been relegated as historicized, inanimate icons whose actual identities (or corresponding sitters) are unknown, much like how the separation between Noh actors and the characters they play becomes tenuous.  Yamaguchi's inclusion of a "pop culture" mask showing Angelina Jolie as Maleficent draws connections between past depictions of women and the ones that prevail today.

 

Yamaguchi, Angelina, 2007, Japanese cypress, seashell, natural pigment, and Japanese lacquer.

Traditions Transfigured was an immersive exhibition that succeeds on many levels.  The gallery layout was cohesive and allowed for easy perusal and observation of the artwork and information.  It also shared a part of Japanese culture that is not necessarily familiar to Western audiences, showcased Yamaguchi's finesse, craftsmanship, and originality for creating Noh masks, and established a complex dialectic between gender, culture, identity, and representation.