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Japanese-American
(1878–1960)
A Message to the West
1924
Bromide print
22.5 x 18.5 x 0.75 in.
Gift of the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation
2003.25
Frank Kunishige’s enigmatic photograph constitutes a bridge between pictorialism and modernism. A prominent member of the internationally acclaimed Seattle Camera Club, Kunishige was the only one of that group to feature the nude human figure in his compositions. This photograph depicts a Caucasian woman reading a scroll with Asian text unfurled against her crossed legs. Although the content of the text is unknown, the image implies a moment of enlightenment, indicated by the small beam of light shining from the scroll onto the woman’s face. The formal composition is classically pictorialist, with the figure seated below a large spherical shape implying a halo or enlightened deity. However, the stark nudity and unidealized figure align the work with more modernist concerns. Kunishige never used Asian women for his nude models; often he relied on dancers he met while documenting performances at the Cornish School of the Arts in Seattle.
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