Masami Teraoka's Ukiyo-e

Masami Teraoka is renowned for his imaginative blend of historic art styles with contemporary themes. Born in Onomichi, Hiroshima, Japan in 1936, he studied Aesthetics at the Kwansei Gakuin University, Kobe, Japan, before moving to Los Angeles in 1961 to advance his artistic training, earning a Bachelor of Arts in 1964 and a Master of Art in 1968 from Otis Art Institute. His immersion in American culture had a profound influence on him both artistically and personally, and he became an insightful observer and commentator of Japanese and American culture.

Initially an abstract artist, Teraoka’s style evolved as he encountered American Pop Art and the works of artists like Claes Oldenburg, Roy Lichtenstein and Tom Wesselman. This influence, combined with his reflections on his Japanese heritage, prompted him to merge the traditional visual vocabulary of 17th–19th-century Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints with elements of American Pop Art to reflect on issues such as globalisation, collisions between Asian and Western cultures and the AIDS crisis. He was among a group of Japanese artists across Japan and America including key figures like Shinohara Ushio, Yokoo Tadanori and Ay-O who developed a hybrid genre of 'pop ukiyo-e'.

Ukiyo-e was a familiar visual language for Teraoka, and he sought to bring the richness of its graphic style and social significance to a wider contemporary audience. Teraoka borrowed imagery and themes from masters of ukiyo-e—notably the kabuki theatre prints and the genres of bijin-ga [beautiful women], yūrei-zu [ghosts, demons and supernatural beings] and shunga [erotic prints] and applied the lessons learnt from masterworks—'figure drawing from Kunisada and wave drawing from Hokusai'¹—to create new narratives that reflected his personal experience of being an artist of Japanese heritage with an international outlook living in the United States.

The ukiyo-e style developed in Japan’s Edo period (1603–1868). The term ukiyo-e translates to 'images of the floating world', referring to the vibrant urban life of Edo (now Tokyo), which served as the governmental and cultural capital during the Edo period. Ukiyo-e artists produced works in a range of media including paintings and drawings, but it was through the medium of woodblock prints that the style flourished. These prints were widely circulated, reflected contemporary trends and issues and depicted scenes of entertainment, leisure and fashion, as well as genres like landscape. Key characteristics of woodblock prints include a strong sense of design and decorative patterns, bold outlines, asymmetrical compositions, vivid hues, and areas of flat colour.

When Teraoka moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960s, he found himself in the centre of American consumer culture, Hollywood actors, and the sexual revolution, and although he felt like an outsider, he very much embraced this culture. The sexual freedom he witnessed in America was a stark contrast to the more conservative attitudes towards sex he experienced in Japan. Teraoka could see parallels with what he was experiencing in Los Angeles and that of the world of the ukiyo, the pleasure districts, a world of kabuki actors, beautiful women, and consumer culture—a place where rules do not apply.

Perhaps the strongest and most consistent theme throughout Teraoka’s career has been sexuality, with depictions of beautiful women and shunga among Teraoka’s earliest explorations of the ukiyo-e style. Shunga literally translates to 'spring pictures' and the word is a euphemism for sexual imagery. Nearly all ukiyo-e artists created shunga imagery. The genre was most popular during the nineteenth century and was intended to titillate and amuse, as well as serve as educational material.

Sarah and Octopus/Seventh Heaven, 2001, is Teraoka’s homage to one of Katsushika Hokusai’s (1760–1849) most famous and iconic shunga images, Girl diver and octopi—also known as Dream of the fisherman’s wife from Hokusai’s three-volume shunga, Kinoe no komatsu [Young pine shoots]. First published in 1814, it depicted an ama [shellfish diver] being ravished by two octopi. Traditionally, ama only wore a loincloth or belt while diving, and shellfish such as abalone and oysters were used as a euphemism for female genitalia, so ama became sexualised, especially during times when artists had to find creative ways to avoid censorship laws. In the print Teraoka echoes the historical significance of ama divers as symbols of sexual liberation and imbues his version with a contemporary message of safe sex. Sarah, pictured amid crashing waves in her encounter with an octopus holds a female condom, symbolising a conscious effort towards safe sex practices.

In AIDS Series/Geisha in Bath, 2008, the geisha sits in a furo, a Japanese wooden bathtub, with her hair arranged in a historically appropriate style. The light-pink shadow across her eyes, typical of kabuki theatre makeup, symbolises youth and good health. The background features a jōruri, a narrative chant accompanied by a shamisen, a three-stringed Japanese instrument. To prepare the text Teraoka enlisted a script specialist [KG1] to assist him in creating historically accurate text as the Japanese characters used in ukiyo-e prints are not wildly understood today. Read from right to left, the text translates:

Only the condoms and the storyline of the jōruri allude to the contemporary setting. Historically, sexual education has been conveyed through art, and shunga provided guidance and information about intimate matters. Teraoka continues this tradition in works such as Sarah and Octopus/Seventh Heaven and AIDS Series/Geisha in Bath, which both promote safe sex as a response to the AIDS crisis.

The theme of culture clash is particularly strong in Teraoka’s early work as he humorously used art to explore and understand his new surroundings. McDonald's Hamburgers Invading Japan/Tattooed Woman and Geisha III, 2018, is an excellent example of the meeting of two cultures. This print is based on a watercolour Teraoka painted in 1975 which was included in a formative solo exhibition held at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1979 that gained him significant recognition as an artist. In the work, Teraoka expresses his horror of the spread of McDonald’s, which opened its first store in Tokyo in 1971. He depicts a brash, tattooed American woman slurping up ramen in contrast with an elegant Japanese woman holding a hamburger who asks, "Should I just bite into it?". In the work, Teraoka playfully critiques the influx of American culture in Japan, highlighting the tension between tradition and modernity as well as the impact of consumerism and globalisation.

In 1980 Teraoka moved to Hawai'i, where he observed the interactions between Japanese and mainland American tourists. These cross-cultural exchanges became the subject of many works including the Hawaii Snorkel Series 1992/93, a series of four woodblock, etching and aquatint prints created at Tyler Graphics, Mount Kisco, New York. The series depicts scenes of Japanese men’s reactions to American women on the beaches of Hawai’i. Teraoka explores the broad social phenomenon of migration and cultural identity, through his own personal experiences as a Japanese artist living in America. One of the prints Kunisada Eclipsed, tells a time bending narrative where ukiyo-e master Utagawa Kunisada travels to Hawai’i with his assistant to paint its natural beauties, including tropical fish and a solar eclipse. His view is disrupted by the emergence of a voluptuous American woman, here played by Marabeth Cohen-Tyler, a staff member at Tyler Graphics and Kenneth Tyler’s late wife.

Utagawa Kunisada was a key figure of the predominant Utagawa school in Edo. He worked in many genres, most notably kabuki theatre prints, becoming Japan’s most widely disseminated print artist. Teraoka sees Kunisada as the greatest character artist of the ukiyo-e masters and views him as a sensei—often borrowing expressions and figures from his works.

Teraoka’s work is heavily influenced by kabuki theatre prints. Kabuki, a form of Japanese theatre known for its stylised performances and dramatic storytelling, was a major subject of ukiyo-e prints. Dynamic kabuki performances portray stories of murder, revenge, love, infamy, jealousy, and redemption, and were often based on historical events and ancient myths and legends modified to address the concerns of the time. Teraoka continues this tradition by staging his own scenes with similarly energetic compositions with contemporary messages and elements. He has said:

As the HIV/AIDS crisis emerged in the 1980s, Teraoka’s focus shifted dramatically. The pandemic profoundly affected his work, as he sought to address the devasting impact of the virus and challenge the stigma surrounding it. Teraoka utilised the ukiyo-e genre of yūrei-zu—prints depicting ghosts and supernatural beings—to convey the horror and tragedy of the HIV/AIDS crisis. Teraoka’s AIDS Series, which he began in 1986, stands as a powerful testament to his commitment to using art as a vehicle for social commentary.

In AIDS Series/Makiki Heights Disaster, 1988, a woman attempts to persuade her lover to use a condom, while other figures struggle to contain a giant snake that has burst through a condom. The presence of C. Everett Koop, then US Surgeon General, underscores the urgent need for public health education. He holds a scroll picturing phallic mushrooms and pine-needles, a reference to the 1988 Understanding AIDS pamphlet which Koop organised to be distributed to every household in the United States—its message informing readers about intravenous needles and unprotected sex as the primary causes of infection. Above them all are the ghosts of two fallen lovers, victims of the AIDS crisis, serving as a bleak reminder of the tragedy of the pandemic.

Masami Teraoka’s practice exemplifies the dynamic interplay between tradition and contemporary life. By merging the classical techniques of ukiyo-e with contemporary themes and Pop Art influences, Teraoka creates a unique visual language that engages with complex social issues. His work not only bridges cultural and temporal divides but also challenges viewers to consider the intersections of art, culture and society. Through his innovative approach, Teraoka continues to contribute to the evolving dialogue between historical art forms and contemporary artistic practice.

Masami Teraoka and Japanese Ukiyo-e Prints runs from 21 September 2024 to 2 March 2025.