Historic Japanese paintings. New, never been used. Book is in pristine condition. No highlights or pen marks of any kind. Pages are clean, crisp, and clear. No folded, torn, or folded pages. Ships from Salt Lake City, UT. Will ship out in the mail either the same day or the next day. Guaranteed.
A very beautiful edition on good paper, with high quality prints. There is a crisp history of ukiyo-e by Mitsunobu Sato, a very poetic analysis of the aesthetics of ukiyo-e by Thomas Zacharias, then a more-or-less chronological selection of prints with excellent individual commentaries by Mitsunobu Sato, Yoshino Moriyama, Hideko Yamaguchi and Yuriko Iwakiri. Finally, there is a very clear and thorough glossary of the technical terms, and concise biographies of Ukiyo-e artists.
Zacharias' essay in particular helped me to look at the prints with a more informed eye, and to appreciate the sophistication and subtlety of the designs. I found I came to like the earlier, simpler, less highly coloured portraits and figures as much as the fabulous landscapes of Hiroshige et al, made when the medium had matured.
A fabulous book of woodblock prints of the Ukiyo-e period out of Taschen Publishing House. I have read this book cover to cover and it will probably sit on my desk for the next .... so I can look at it without having to look for it.
Beautiful images and great information. However I found the organization of the book to be difficult- not all of the captions or descriptions are on the same page (or even opposite of) the images described. I think for maximum effect I would have preferred to be able to look at the images while reading about them to better identify the qualities mentioned in the description. Otherwise tho a beautiful book with a lot of new things I learned about this art
Another great book from Fahr-Becker. An excellent introduction to Japanese prints with a very good selection of representative works from best masters. Each print has extensive commentaries. Very informative and a pleasure to read.
A wonderful introduction to Japanese prints. The Origins and History section with which the book leads is excellent. Every print has an informative summary. The prints themselves are beautiful. What I learn from this book will certainly change the way I look at ukiyo-e from now on. Time to check out coming ukiyo-e exhibitions and mark them in my calendar!