Revealed by Moonlight: Shapeshifters in Japanese Woodblock Prints

Throughout Japanese folklore, the silvery orb of the moon is often used as a device to reveal the monstrous identity lurking behind an innocent façade. In this Halloween season edition of Sneak Peek: New Research from the Freer and Sackler, join assistant curator Kit Brooks in viewing 19th-century Japanese woodblock prints that explore the theme of shapeshifting. Over the years, some artists and audiences appear to have identified with bombastic warrior heroes depicted in the dynamic moment when they have vanquished their foes. Others show empathy for lonely, monstrous figures sensitively depicted in atmospheric compositions that employ a gentle color palette. The enormous amount of grotesque imagery produced at this time is often attributed to the psychological states of the artists but is better understood as a general taste for the bizarre that continues to thrive today. Kit Brooks is the Japan Foundation Assistant Curator of Japanese Art at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Sm