We are our own most keenest observers, whether it be in the bathroom mirror or in the department store window. But while the face is humankind's most distinctive feature, we are also remarkably poor at getting ourselves in perspective. When asked what size their face appears on the mirror surface, the majority of people reply incorrectly — life size. The image is exactly half. Since we cannot get the measure of ourselves, should we expect better when trying to capture the visage of distant, strange or unknown others?
A case in point is the "Directly Painted Portrait of Perry," by an unknown Japanese artist in the mid-19th century. Matthew Perry was the Commodore in the U.S. Navy charged with opening Japan to trade after its long period of isolation (though the exhibition catalog makes a case for why this is not exactly true), a task which he began with his first visit in 1852. Perry is depicted with an enormously long blue nose, lips that look like worms pressed together and inwardly sloping eyes, more demon than human. In fact, this image follows a convention from ukiyo-e (genre paintings) whereby Westerners were depicted as karasu-tengu — or crow-goblins — deities within Japanese lore that were enemies of Buddhism and abducted children. In a portrait such as this, these are someone else's thoughts, mirrored in another's face.
The misrepresentation of others before and after first contact, the representation of the self and others on their terms and in their mediums, and the self and other in contemporary oblivion are the themes of "Self and Other: Portraits from Asia and Europe," split between The National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, and The National Museum of Art, Osaka. The exhibition is ambitious, a product of the Asia-Europe Museums Network that will show in Singapore, London and elsewhere. Each venue will draw upon the collection of the host institution, and thus the exhibitions will have a slightly different "face" in each location.