The face has inspired artists around the world for millennia, and Japan’s Noh theater has provided a complex domain for exploring human emotion. Inspired by these practices, Traditions Transfigured examines fourteen contemporary works by Noh mask-maker and artist Bidou Yamaguchi. These apply the forms, techniques, transformative spirit, and mysterious elegance of Noh masks to iconic female portraits from the European art historical canon, and to Kabuki actor prints by Sharaku, Japan’s 18th century portrait master.

This book explores these masks in the context of Noh through essays by art historians, a Noh specialist, and an award-winning novelist.