Warrior Jagatai

Misch Kohn

"Warrior Jagatai" reflected Kohn's interest in the Japanese print's ability to evoke an emotional response, like the Ukiyo-e images of warriors and actors. Like them, this image has semi-abstracted elements with rigid, stylized gestures that convey a feeling.

Kohn was inspired by Hayter's use of engraving as a method of expression using automatic line and Surrealist concepts. After meeting Hayter at a workshop at the Art Institute of Chicago Kohn spent time at Atelier 17 in New York in the late 1940s and they became fast friends. Hayter helped introduce him to printers when the Kohns went to Europe in 1950.

This early Kohn woodengraving is an abstracted portrait of Jagatai, Genghis Khan's son. It is in numerous museum collections and has been illustrated in many publications. Done in 1953 it is also dated later, depending on when the artist pulled the impression.