Baby and Toy Cow

With its imaginative arrangement of an infant, a cow pull toy, and other objects of personal significance, this drawing constitutes a symbolic portrait of the artist, who developed an idiosyncratic style combining Eastern and Western influences. Here the tipped-up perspective and asymmetrical composition suggest a Japanese aesthetic, while the figural distortions are indebted to American and European modernism. In the early 1920s, before turning to painting, Yasuo Kuniyoshi embraced the traditional Eastern practice of ink drawing, yet he manipulated the medium in unconventional ways, creating a range of textures and tones through the varied application of broad washes and delicate lines.