Ravi and Ragamala

Recently curators at the Museum of Fine Arts dipped into dusty storage areas and emerged with two gem-like shows now on view.

The first exhibition fills two rooms with works by the eccentric Japanese painter Soga Shohaku (1730-1781). A fiercely independent man, Shohaku was considered a fanatic by his contemporaries. Trying to revive the no longer fashionable 15th century monochrome tradition, he preceded 20th century action painters. His brush-work, like de Kooning's' is vigorous and sweeping but controlled. His huge dragons and drinking sages fill enormous floor to ceiling panels and scrolls.

In contrast to the size and splashiness of the Japanese, the next two rooms display exercises in exquisite miniatureship. The galleries are wisely plain--stark white with only a bench in one room and an Indian rug in the other.

There are 66 of the miniatures, dating from the 16th through the 19th centuries. They belong to the genre of Ragamala paintings, each delicately drawn and daringly colored to illustrate the moods and scenes of classical Indian music, the Raga. Ravi Shankar and the Beatles provide an appropriately vivid background.

The scenes come from schools in central India and the Punjab Hills, but the daring use of mauve, chartreuse, and orange, and the asymetrical balance are pleasantly familiar to Western eyes.