Living Proof: Drawing in 19th-Century Japan

Brooks, Kit

Schenkenberg, Tamara H.

Pulitzer Arts Foundation

Meet cat demons, skeletal ghosts, and the nine-tailed kitsune in this brilliant and beautifully illustrated volume of ghost imagery in traditional Japanese theater. Staging the Supernatural presents striking, eerie nineteenth-century woodblock prints from Japan that feature ghosts, demons, and other supernatural entities. The book digs into the country's rich folkloric traditions and how they were brought to life on stage, with insightful essays that explore the depiction of spirits through the centuries, the relationship between printed images and cultural imagination, and how kabuki and Noh theater performances reflect Japan's deep connection to and shifting notions of the supernatural. The detailed art invites readers to admire the artistic quality and techniques employed to accentuate supernaturalism, including embossing, mica application, and metallic pigments. The prints offer a window into Japan's 19th-century pop culture and will appeal to fans of contemporary anime and manga, which is often influenced by these images. The book is artfully constructed, with an open spine exposing yellow-ochre thread stitching&nbsp;and a translucent vellum dustjacket printed with ghostly art that adds an ethereal touch. Equal part art and commentary, the book includes: <ul> <li>40 gorgeous woodblock prints with extended text entries</li> <li>Introduction from Pearl Moskowitz, who gifted many of the featured prints to the museum in 2021</li> <li>Essay from museum curator Kit Brooks that explores special effects in kabuki theater ghost plays and their representation in souvenir woodblocks</li> <li>Essay from museum curator Frank Feltens on Tsukioka K&#333;gyo, the first artist to render the eerie atmosphere of Noh plays in prints</li> </ul> Spooky, fascinating, and fun, this is an ideal book for lovers of Japanese art, folklore, horror, and history.

Staging the Supernatural: Ghosts and the Theater in Japanese Prints

Arts & Photography

Feltens, Frank

Graphic Design

Smithsonian Books

This kaleidoscopic catalog, and first book in English dedicated to Ay-Ō, celebrates the avant-garde artist’s first major museum exhibition in the United States\nKnown as the “Rainbow Artist” for the prominent bright motif in his work, Ay-Ō has long referred to this compulsion as his “rainbow hell.” Ay-Ō Happy Rainbow Hell invites readers into the vibrant world of his brilliant art, mind, and imagination, featuring artwork from the first major US museum exhibition devoted to his work.\nPrinted on heavy 100# paper and in 7 colors (with added green, orange, and metallic gold inks, plus 2 spot colors and spot varnish) to achieve Ay-Ō’s vibrant color palette, the book is its own stunning art object. The dustjacket, printed and silkscreened on uncoated, felted art board, is die-cut to reveal the rainbow-printed caseside. Ay-Ō Happy Rainbow Hell presents approximately 140 gorgeous illustrations from the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, home to the largest US collection of Ay-Ō’s silkscreen prints, and loans from other US institutions along with enlightening catalog entries to better appreciate each piece. Additionally, the book includes:\nAn essay from Kit Brooks, the Japan Foundation Assistant Curator of Japanese Art, that provides a biography of Ay-Ō; explores the artist’s fluctuating explanations for his rainbow fixation and its simultaneous liberation and restriction; and emphasizes his legacy as an eminent member of Fluxus, an experimental art group in the 1960s and 1970s. An illustrated essay from Ay-Ō’s longtime printer Sukeda Kenryō, where he describes his painstaking work to translate the artist’s designs onto prismatic silkscreen prints, work that can take up to a year to accomplish. A message from the artist Ay-Ō himself. 
Ay-Ō Happy Rainbow Hell is a colorful and comprehensive book that pays tribute to an extraordinary career and legacy as luminous as the art itself.

Ay-O Happy Rainbow Hell

History & Criticism

A Tale of Two Balconies

Roeder, Katherine

GILES

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Books by Brooks, Kit