How to Look at Japanese Art

by Stephen Addiss

Westerners have long been fascinated by Japanese art, but many viewers are unable to fully enjoy the work because they are unfamiliar with its distinctive attributes. Now, Stephen Addiss presents a complete introduction to one of the world's oldest and most admired art traditions. He discusses the composition, color, form, and subject matter of more than 60 outstanding works.

Genres: Art, Japan, Nonfiction, History

144 pages, Paperback

First published March 30, 1996

Reviews

[Lisajean]

Informative and intriguing, although I wish it was a bit longer and more detailed. I think Addiss often goes a bit far in analyzing pieces of art, but that's just a sign of his enthusiasm for the subject.

[Peter Allum]

A good non-academic primer on how to look at, and think about Japanese art.

Covers six areas in which Japanese artistry is world famous: ceramics, religious sculpture, painting (religious and secular), calligraphy, woodblock prints, and (very different from the rest) garden design.

The chapters are short and focus on key art forms and artists, rather than providing a comprehensive survey. That said, in the areas with which I am familiar, the book does a good job of hitting the high notes.

The key strength is to compare and contrast the different art techniques, artistic styles, and personalities within the various fields. The text is at the level of the non-specialist, and so well suited to art teachers, museum educators, and others involved in communicating about Japanese art. Collectors will likely find the chapters too cursory in their own fields of expertise. But if, like me, you know one field and are interested in others, this is a good introduction.

Overall, a very nicely produced book, even if its audience proves rather limited.

[S]

Beautifully illustrated and artfully written. The text moves through five ancient forms of Japanese art: ceramics, sculpture and traditional Buddhist art, calligraphy, woodblock prints and gardens. Each chapter discusses the defining characteristics for each medium. The masters and masterworks are highlighted and discussed, while taking the time to invite the reader to visually unravel and read, the sometimes minimal and sometimes vivid, aesthetics of Japanese art.

[Peter Herrmann]

I thought his analysis of each of the samples of art - ceramics, painting, sculpture, woodblocks, gardens - was very astute. In each section he provides an overview and history, and lists the primary artisans/artists of the genre and discusses how they informed (or were informed by) other influences (including literary, political, artistic, foreign, etc). In each section he discusses, in depth, perhaps a dozen or so (I wasn't counting) examples. The book was - imho - neither too wordy nor too brief. This book is not meant to be an encyclopedic collection of all Japanese art, mererly an intro ("intro" does not do justice ... he gets deep enough) to the reader to the vast artistic culture of that country. The quality of the reproductions - in color - is quite good. Very impressive.

[Edie Lee]

An awful lot of information in a little book. It covers a lot of ground. I could see s casual reader being overwhelmed.
I’m not sure the title is very accurate. I think it should be “Looking at Japanese Art.

[Kendra Strand]

Simple, concise, easy-to-read introduction to Japanese art; a good selection for students.

[h]

Painfully dull, too wordy not enough photographs. Much of his descriptions could have been spared with the inclusion of diagrams.

[Molly Mccombs]

Why haven’t I read a history of Japanese art before? What’s wrong with me? Good start.

[LemontreeLime]

This was alright, interesting read.

[Diane]

Great introduction to Japanese art, gracefully covering a lot of territory and well illustrated.