Masterworks of Ukiyo-E: Utamaro.
Narazaki, Muneshige; Kikuchi, Sadao; Bester (English translation).
Place Published: Palo Alto, Calif:
Publisher: Kodansha International Ltd,
Date Published: 1970.
Description: 8vo - over 7" - 9" tall. FIRST EDITION, STATED SECOND PRINTING. The softcover book is FINE. This softcover book also has a dust jacket that is NEAR FINE with minor closed tearing/chipping to back upper edge and price-clipped. NOT remaindered. 96 pages. Black & white and color photo illustrated. JMVintage specializes in books, magazines, and treasures related to the Duke & Duchess of Windsor..and other curious subjects."MASTERWORKS OF UKIYO-E This is the first series of books to gather together the full panorama of ukiyo-e-"pictures of the floating world" -from its inception in early genre paintings to the versatile genius of such masters as Hokusai. Each book examines a specific master, style or medium and has sixty-four pages of full-color reproductions, many available outside Japan for the first time. Masterworks of Ukiyo-e will provide collectors and scholars with excel- lent quick reference sources, and readers with no previous knowledge of Japanese art with an unusually fine and specific introduction to its appreciation-at a remarkably low price. Utamaro: In no period more than the late eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries did the portrayal of women occupy so large a place in the art of Japan. The bijin-ga or 'pictures of beautiful women' were, in fact, the most popular of the ukiyo-e prints. And the work of Kitagawa Utamaro, more than that of any other ukiyo-e artist, reflects the importance of the role played by women in the life of Edo-particularly the women of the gay quarters. The great courtesans of the Yoshiwara played only one part in the drama of Utamaro prints. He chose his subjects from among other classes of women as well: favorites of the 'unlicensed' teahouses, daughters of wealthy merchant families, and prostitutes of the lower grade. Utamaro was both a great designer and technician. A large proportion of his compositions are diptychs, triptychs, or multiple designs where as many as six individual prints are placed together to form a huge picture-each print complete within itself yet a part of the whole composition. Sometimes this kind of technical virtuosity impresses one as artistic showmanship. Utamaro was, in fact, known as a braggard, and many of his prints incorporate texts that are either full of self-praise or of scathing criticism of other ukiyo-e artists. This volume reproduces seventy-six examples of Utamaro's genius. The text includes a complete Romanized list of the original Japanese titles of all the prints produced, a biography of the artist, and an essay, accompanied by black-and-white illustrations, - that traces the history of the changing ideals of feminine beauty in Japanese art, from ancient Bodhisattva figures to the masters of bijin-ga in the ukiyo-e."
Edition: First editionBinding: Soft Cover
Condition: Fine in Near Fine dj
ISBN: 0870110667
Book Id: 9840
Price: $25.00
