March 25 (Bloomberg) -- You may associate Japanese prints with tranquil views of Mount Fuji or graceful kimono-clad courtesans. If so, think again.

London’s Royal Academy exhibition of work by Utagawa Kuniyoshi from the Arthur R. Miller collection reveals an entirely different side of this traditional form.

His art is populated by ghosts, exuberantly tattooed heroes, gigantic sea creatures and colossal skeletons. The action scenes are so dynamic that you half expect to find bubbles emerging from the melee of samurai and monsters reading “Pow!!” or “Wham!!”

In other words, the work of Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) often looks more like 20th-century comic books than the landscapes of his contemporaries Hiroshige (1797-1858) and Hokusai (1760- 1849). It seems he was an influence on Japanese manga comics, which are now popular throughout the world. There are some more conventional images of landscape and beautiful women in the London show, but they aren’t what catch the eye.

Kuniyoshi’s artistic specialties were action, Grand Guignol horror and eccentric humor. There’s a burlesque absurdity to the prints -- a surprising number -- in which warriors battle with oversized specimens of aquatic life, such as “Oniwaka-maru about to kill a giant red carp” (1845-46). They suggest the kind of dreams that might follow a surfeit of sushi.

Ghoulish Sex

Kuniyoshi evidently loved depicting fish, crabs and lobsters. This visual obsession with seafood is something he shares with the contemporary Japanese photographer Araki. So, too, is the unabashed sexual imagery -- or, if you prefer, obscenity -- of his “Comic erotic prints of demons” (c. 1836). In these images, Kuniyoshi constructed various ghouls out of male and female sexual organs. At first glance, you might think you are looking at a grotesque face. Actually, it’s the reverse.

Kuniyoshi borrowed the 16th-century Italian painter Arcimboldo’s trick of making a human physiognomy out of incongruous components such as flowers or fruit. Except Kuniyoshi does it with a more salacious twist. “He looks fierce but he’s really a great guy” (c. 1847) presents an old man’s features ingeniously composed of intertwined, naked bodies.

The effect is bizarre but droll. The same applies to Kuniyoshi’s numerous ghosts and bugaboos, which have a kinship with the Hollywood genre of horror comedy. They are as goggle- eyed as his monstrous carp.

Sometimes this element of sly parody tips over into outright clowning. “Octopus games” (1840-42) -- another marine fantasia -- could be a Disney cartoon. The octopuses, dressed in robes and brandishing fans, cavort like bald, snub-nosed, glaring-eyed people. Other prints show kabuki actors transformed into turtles and cats.

Playful Subversive

Some of this humor was just playful, but as the curator Timothy Clark explains in the catalog, Kuniyoshi was a subversive artist and his surreal extravaganzas were intended to evade the political censorship of his day (successfully, since the censors didn’t know what to make of them).

Kuniyoshi’s work often looks amazingly modern. The reason, perhaps, is that a great deal of current visual imagery is derived from 19th-century Japan. We always knew that Vincent van Gogh was influenced by Japanese prints. Perhaps Superman was too. Conversely, as the show demonstrates, Kuniyoshi learned from western art. Globalization started earlier than we realize.

This is an entertaining and eye-opening exhibition. Nonetheless, you don’t leave craving for more. Like sushi, a little Kuniyoshi is all you really need. It’s highly flavored fare. Too much, and you might start feeling queasy.

(Martin Gayford is chief art critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer on the story: Martin Gayford in London at martin@cgayford.freeserve.co.uk.

Last Updated: March 24, 2009 20:00 EDT