From Japan’s first forays onto the international stage of world’s fairs in the late 19th century to the dynamic creativity of the 1920 and 1930s, from the heady post–World War II period to the present day, Japanese crafts have exhibited a rich diversity of media and techniques. One of the first illustrated surveys in English of modern-era Japanese crafts––including ceramics, lacquerware, metalcraft, and wood––this elegant book, with 70 color illustrations, is an invaluable guide for the collector and scholar.
Focusing on an important collection of Japanese crafts destined for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the text discusses the artists and ideas that shaped and defined the aesthetic of 20th-century Japan, noting that this nation―which so deeply appreciates and fosters its crafts traditions―hails its artists as “living national treasures.” The book also includes artists’ biographies and reproductions of their signatures and marks.

The Art of Japanese Craft: 1875 to the Present (Philadelphia Museum of Art)

Arts & Photography

Fischer, Felice

History & Criticism

Yale University Press

An exquisite tribute to the group of artists who elevated Japanese painting to the level of internationally renowned fine art The Kano lineage of painters—the most important in Japan—was established in the late 15th century by Kano Masanobu (1434–1530) and continued for more than 400 years, until the early 20th century. Originally limited to successive generations of the Kano family, it soon developed into a school of professional artists. Ink and Gold is the first and most comprehensive book published outside of Japan to address the Kano painters. Lavishly illustrated, this important volume focuses on the large-scale screens and sliding doors that were designed for the residences of powerful rulers, together with smaller works such as scrolls, albums, and fans. These works—for sites including shogunate residences, Zen temples, teahouses, and homes of wealthy merchants—demonstrate the range of styles that Kano artists employed to suit the tastes of their varied patrons. Essays by leading scholars address the wide range of Kano motifs and styles and also consider the particular influence of Kano Tan’yu (1602–1674). A compendium of Kano artists’ seals, a type of resource published here for the first time, provides an important reference, as does an appendix of images from the most significant album by Tan’yu.

Ink and Gold: Art of the Kano

Kinoshita, Kyoko

Japanese Design: A Survey Since 1950

Hiesinger, Kathryn B.

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Ike Taiga and Tokuyama Gyokuran: Japanese Masters of the Brush

Ike Taiga (1723-1776) and his wife Tokuyama Gyokuran (1727-1784) were preeminent artists in 18th-century Japan. This landmark book--the only comprehensive survey available in English—focuses on the lives and times of these artists and accompanies the first-ever exhibition devoted to their work in the United States.Considered by contemporaries to be an eccentric marvel, indifferent to worldly preoccupations, Taiga is best known as an exponent of the so-called Nanga school of Chinese literati painting. He was hugely prolific and experimental, working in an impressive range of styles, techniques, compositions, and subjects to produce over 1,000 calligraphies and paintings, and many large-scale fusuma (sliding doors) and screens. While not as well known as her husband, Gyokuran was a significant artist and a well-regarded poet of Japanese verse. Taiga wrote poetry in Chinese, and translated poems by both artists are featured prominently in this volume.

Chaves, Jonathan

Ohki, Sadako

Hiroyuki, Shimatani

Philadelphia Museum Of Art

Ike, Gyokuran

Ike, Taiga

From Japan’s first forays onto the international stage of world’s fairs in the late 19th century to the dynamic creativity of the 1920 and 1930s, from the heady post–World War II period to the present day, Japanese crafts have exhibited a rich diversity of media and techniques. One of the first illustrated surveys in English of modern-era Japanese crafts––including ceramics, lacquerware, metalcraft, and wood––this elegant book, with 70 color illustrations, is an invaluable guide for the collector and scholar. Focusing on an important collection of Japanese crafts destined for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the text discusses the artists and ideas that shaped and defined the aesthetic of 20th-century Japan, noting that this nation―which so deeply appreciates and fosters its crafts traditions―hails its artists as “living national treasures.” The book also includes artists’ biographies and reproductions of their signatures and marks.

An exploration of the treasures of Japanese art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art reveals a wealth of fascinating works dating from prehistoric times to today Art of Japan presents one hundred highlights of Japanese art from the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, dating from the Neolithic period to today. Among them are a temple and a teahouse, acquired in 1928, each the first of its type in an American museum. The collection is also notable for tea wares, particularly ceramics produced between the sixteenth and twenty-first centuries. The Edo and Meiji periods are especially well represented by a wide range of artworks that include calligraphy, paintings, and prints by such luminaries as Hon'ami K&#333;etsu (1558-1637), Ike Taiga (1723-1776), and Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892). An introductory essay by Felice Fischer illuminates the formation of the museum's extensive collection of Japanese art, which began with the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition--the event that first opened American eyes to Japanese art and culture. The naissance of the museum's exceptional holdings of Japanese ceramics can be traced directly to the Centennial, where General Hector Tyndale acquired more than a hundred examples that he bequeathed to the fledgling museum. This collection has continued to be augmented with ceramics by current practitioners of the craft, also represented in this volume, along with works by other contemporary Japanese artists. For anyone curious about Japanese art and its relevance to the art of the world today, this book provides an engaging roadmap from earliest times to the present. <div> Distributed for the Philadelphia Museum of Art</div>

Art of Japan: Highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art

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