A reconsideration of Japanese Woodcut Art from a
Parisian in Japan, 1934 – 1960
Today marks the publication of a new booklet from Japanese Outsider Woodcuts. The launch of this booklet coincides with Outside Art Fair New York, held March 3 – 6, 2022 in the Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 W 18th St.
The emergence of Outsider Art as a separate and distinct artistic tradition has been a dominant trend in art criticism over the last 50 years. A new phase in the movement is to re-evaluate historical artists in the context of the Outsider framework.
Many artists who previously were placed into ill-fitting genres and movements can now be seen in the Outsider context, allowing us to understand their work as fully aligned with a distinct international movement. In this spirit, we can reevaluate the work of Paul Jacoulet on a number of criteria.
This slim booklet lays forth the characteristics of Jacoulet that firmly place him in the Outsider tradition.
Introduction, Paul Jacoulet: Outsioder Artist
This slim booklet lays forth the characteristics of Jacoulet that firmly place him in the Outsider tradition. Those characteristics are:
- Expressive impulse: Through a tumultuous childhood and the deprivation of a world war, Jacoulet shepherded the creation of 166 prints
- Unconditioned by art trends: Jacoulet was schooled in calligraphy like any other child raised in Japan, and this was supplemented by private instruction in languages, painting, and music. This education accounts for some of his technical precision, but it didn’t lead to adherence to the dominant woodblock style of his era, Sōsaku-hanga.
- No mimicry: His uncommon circumstances— a well-traveled European living in Japan, mostly able to afford to make his own way— made him unbound to the conventions of artists who had to live in the art market, hand-to-block-to -mouth
- Intense attention to detail: In the preface to The Prints of Paul Jacoulet, David Kamansky wrote of the “meticulous attention to surface detail, often bordering on the gilded lily, (Jacoulet’s) prints become a unique production assuring him a niche in the history of Western art.”
- Marginalized contemporaneously: Jacoulet’s marginalization had many nodes that related to his person: his race, his national origin, his mode of dress. As Christopher Harrity wrote in Advocate Magazine, he was openly gay and “his sexual orientation and gender fluidity are clearly reflected in his work.”
- Relentless self-promotion: Jacoulet’s innovative print subscription system, his small-format surimono Christmas Card scheme, his choice of subject matter to appeal to specific audiences— all of this was the work of a marginalized artist devoted to becoming popular.
View the complete booklet here:
