Dear readers,
Printmaker and poet Munio Makuuchi wasn’t well known during his life, which stretched from 1934 to 2000, but Smith College Museum of Art is shining a light on this obscure and interesting artist, a Japanese-American who formed a distinct artistic style while teaching in Nigeria. This is the first exhibition of Makuuchi’s work. Exploring his work this week is writer Laura Holland, who illustrates the metaphorical connection between people and animals — particularly fish — that became Makuuchi’s hallmark.
Makuuchi had a troubled early life featuring two pivotal time periods — the first was when he and his family were incarcerated in Idaho during World War II as part of the United States’ troubled Japanese internment, and the second was when he later was drafted into the U.S. army and suffered a traumatic brain injury in 1957. At the same time, his art gave him an outlet that allowed him to make sense of the world.
Fish, and salmon in particular, resonated with Makuuchi. Salmon are native to the Northwest coast, which Makuuchi felt was his true home, and provided the artist with a grounding symbol of leaving and returning as he tracked their migratory pattern.
Holland probes the exhibit to discuss his work, includes some of the artist’s poetry, and also speaks with Leverett artist Martha Braun, who met Makuuchi when both were students at the University of Iowa in the 1960s. Braun’s account provides a personal side of the artist, which enriches Holland’s exploration of his work.
Curators of the exhibition name several possibilities for Makuuchi’s obscurity, including racism, and his economic status, but Smith is working to introduce art lovers to his work and bring him out of the unknown. Check out the exhibition for yourself. It’s up at the Smith College Museum of Art through Dec. 8. Also check out a sample of his poetry here on page 19.
— Dave Eisenstadter