Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice book in great condition. Pages in excellent condition. Images are beautiful bright and vivid. No notes or highlighting. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> In Japan the wood-block prints contained in book and album occupy a more important place in the national art as a whole than in any other country. In printed books both illustrated literary texts and vol- umes that were entirely the artist’s work all schools of Japanese art were represented and block-cutters and printers quintessentialised the characteristics of each school and the gifts of individual masters. A K?etsu book such as Michimori epitomises the Rimpa or Decorative school; the Seiro Bijin Awase Sugata Kagami of Shunsho and Shigemasa goes to the heart of the ‘Floating World’; the two parts of Suiseki Gafu reveal the genius of an artist whose few surviving paintings and drawings give no inkling of his powers. The Art of the Japanese Book surveys the work of the major artists from the first books of the early 1600s to those that were published up to the end of the Ameri- can occupation in 1951 selecting from the often prolific output of these artists to show them at their most typical and impressive. The artistry and techniques of book designers artists block-cutters and printers are examined based on specimens of optimum condition and unfaded colour. The connection between the artists of the book and the current mainstreams of painting is a constant underlying theme and in regard to the books of the last hundred years has meant a concern with not only traditional native painting but also modern western styles adopted or adapted by Japanese artists. (OS)