The Kisokaido route through Japan was ordained in the early 1600s by the country's then-ruler Tokugawa Ieyasu, who decreed that staging posts be installed along the length of the arduous passage between Edo (present-day Tokyo) and Kyoto. Inns, shops, and restaurants were established to provide sustenance and lodging to weary travelers. In 1835, renowned woodblock print artist Keisai Eisen was commissioned to create a series of works to chart the Kisokaido journey. After producing 24 prints, Eisen was replaced by Utagawa Hiroshige, who completed the series of 70 prints in 1838. Both Eisen and Hiroshige were master print practitioners. In The Sixty-Nine Stations along the Kisokaido, we find the artists' distinct styles as much as their shared expertise. From the busy starting post of Nihonbashi to the castle town of Iwamurata, Eisen opts for a more muted palette but excels in figuration, particularly of glamorous women, and relishes snapshots of activity along the route, from shoeing a horse to winnowing rice. Hiroshige demonstrates his mastery of landscape with grandiose and evocative scenes, whether it's the peaceful banks of the Ota River, the forbidding Wada Pass, or a moonlit ascent between Yawata and Mochizuki. Taken as a whole, The Sixty-Nine Stations collection represents not only a masterpiece of woodblock practice, including bold compositions and an experimental use of color, but also a charming tapestry of 19th-century Japan, long before the specter of industrialization. This TASCHEN XXL edition revives the series with due scale and splendor. Sourced from the only-known set of a near-complete run of the first edition of the series, this legendary publication is reproduced in optimum quality, bound in the Japanese tradition and with uncut paper. A perfect companion piece to TASCHEN's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, it is at once a visual delight and a major artifact from the bygone era of Imperial Japan.

Hans Baldung Grien, the most famous apprentice and close friend of German artist Albrecht Dürer, was known for his unique and highly eroticised images of witches. In paintings and woodcut prints, he gave powerful visual expression to late medieval tropes and stereotypes, such as the poison maiden, venomous virgin, the Fall of Man, ‘death and the maiden’ and other motifs and eschatological themes, which mingled abject and erotic qualities in the female body. Yvonne Owens reads these images against the humanist intellectual milieu of Renaissance Germany, showing how classical and medieval medicine and natural philosophy interpreted female anatomy as toxic, defective and dangerously beguiling. She reveals how Hans Baldung exploited this radical polarity to create moralising and titillating portrayals of how monstrous female sexuality victimised men and brought them low. Furthermore, these images issued from—and contributed to—the contemporary understanding of witchcraft as a heresy that stemmed from natural ‘feminine defect,’ a concept derived from Aristotle. Offering new and provocative interpretations of Hans Baldung’s iconic witchcraft imagery, this book is essential reading for historians of art, culture and gender relations in the late medieval and early modern periods.

Max Liebermann (1847-1935)-a co-founder of the Berlin Secession and President of the Akademie der Kunste for many years-was one of the most important artists of his generation. In addition to his impressive painting oeuvre, Liebermann's graphic prints also assume an important role: over 600 motifs as etchings, lithographs, and woodcuts are found today in museum and private collections around the world. This catalogue provides an introduction to Liebermann's graphic prints based on selected works from the collection of the Max Liebermann Society Berlin. It also presents common printmaking techniques and provides a detailed examination of the development of the graphic prints by the most signifi cant representative of Impressionism. The focus is thus on the history of the collecting and exhibiting of his print graphic works as well as the research on these works.

Rembrandt's stunning religious prints stand as evidence of the Dutch master's extraordinary skill as a technician and as a testament to his genius as a teller of tales. Here, several virtually unknown etchings, collected by the Feddersen family and now preserved for the ages at the University of Notre Dame, are made widely available in a lavishly illustrated volume. Building on the contributions of earlier Rembrandt scholars, noted art historian Charles M. Rosenberg illuminates each of the 70 religious prints through detailed background information on the artist's career as well as the historical, religious, and artistic impulses informing their creation. Readers will enjoy an impression of the earliest work, The Circumcision (1625-26); the famous Hundred Guilder Print; the enigmatic eighth state of Christ Presented to the People; one of a handful of examples of the very rare final posthumous state of The Three Crosses; and an impression and counterproof of The Triumph of Mordecai. From the joyous epiphany of the coming of the Messiah to the anguish of the betrayal of a father (Jacob) by his children, from choirs of angels waiting to receive the Virgin into heaven to the dog who defecates in the road by an ancient inn (The Good Samaritan), Rembrandt's etchings offer a window into the nature of faith, aspiration, and human experience, ranging from the ecstatically divine to the worldly and mundane. Ultimately, these prints- modest, intimate, fragile objects-are great works of art which, like all masterpieces, reward us with fresh insights and discoveries at each new encounter.

From the beginning of the exciting century that saw a small nation expand into a mighty world power, the famous lithographic firm of Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives produced over 7,000 prints, capturing scenes of American life in vivid detail. Currier & Ives prints were each coloured individually, by hand, and collectors have prized their skilled craftsmanship and keen sense of composition for generations. This timeless collection, complete with more than three hundred illustrations in full colour and a masterful text by historian Walton Rawls, captures a beloved piece of Americana. With festive holiday scenes, watershed historical moments, and idyllic depictions of the American countryside, this book will hold perennial appeal for lovers of history, art, and a classic take on the American experience.

George Baxter (1804-1867) was a pioneer in advancing the art of colour printing. A perfectionist, Baxter not only engraved but also examined the prints as they were produced, often providing touch-ups by hand. Baxter's process was, in the end, uneconomical, and he died bankrupt, but no one did more to bring vivid artworks within financial reach of every household, or leave a more colourful legacy for generations of admiring collectors of Victoriana. His oil-coloured prints have given viewers pleasure since they began appearing in the 1830s. Thanks to Donald and Barbara Cameron's generous donation of their Baxter collection in 2010, the Bruce Peel Special Collections & Archives was able to mount a remarkable exhibition.

Prints changed the history of art, even as that history was first being written. In this study, Sharon Gregory argues that this reality was not lost on Vasari; she shows that, contrary to common opinion, prints thoroughly pervade Vasari's history of art, just as they pervade his own career as an artist. This volume examines Giorgio Vasari's interest, as an art historian and as an artist, in engravings and woodblock prints, shedding new light not only on aspects of Vasari's career, but also on aspects of sixteenth-century artistic culture and artistic practice. It is the first book to study his interest in prints from this dual perspective. Investigating how prints were themselves more often interpretive than strictly reproductive, Gregory challenges the long-held view that Vasari's reliance on prints led to errors in his interpretation of major monuments. She demonstrates how, like Raphael and later artists, Vasari used engravings after his designs as a form of advertisement through which he hoped to increase his fame and attract influential patrons. She also explores how contributing illustrations for books by his scholarly friends, Vasari participated in the contemporary exchange of intellectual ideas and concerns shared by Renaissance humanists and artists.

The Distorting Mirror analyzes the multiple and complex ways in which urban Chinese subjects saw themselves interacting with the new visual culture that emerged during the turbulent period between the 1880s and the 1930s. The media and visual forms examined include lithography, photography, advertising, film, and theatrical performances. Urbanites actively engaged with and enjoyed this visual culture, which was largely driven by the subjective desire for the empty promises of modernity--promises comprised of such abstract and fleeting concepts as new, exciting, and fashionable. Detailing and analyzing the trajectories of development of various visual representations, Laikwan Pang emphasizes their interactions. In doing so, she demonstrates that visual modernity was not only a combination of independent cultural phenomena, but also a partially coherent sociocultural discourse whose influences were seen in different and collective parts of the culture. The work begins with an overall historical account and theorization of a new lithographic pictorial culture developing at the end of the nineteenth century and an examination of modernity's obsession with the investigation of the real. Subsequent chapters treat the fascination with the image of the female body in the new visual culture; entertainment venues in which this culture unfolded and was performed; how urbanites came to terms with and interacted with the new reality; and the production and reception of images, the dynamics between these two being a theme explored throughout the book. Modernity, as the author shows, can be seen as spectacle. At the same time, she demonstrates that, although the excessiveness of this spectaclecaptivated the modern subject, it did not completely overwhelm or immobilize those who engaged with it. After all, she argues, they participated in and performed with this ephemeral visual culture in an attempt to come to terms with their own new, modern self.

G. B. Piranesi is one of the most inventive artists of the eighteenth century. The Carceri, or Prisons, are a set of etchings believed by many to be Piranesi's most original work. The extraordinary evocative power of the Carceri has fascinated many writers. Some have interpreted the Carceri as dreams, as nightmares, as disturbing allegories of human life. In this book, mostly through an analysis of the Latin quotations contained in the etchings, it is argued that Piranesi grants a metaphorical meaning to the Carceri in order to imprison those he saw as obstructing the Arts and threatening his own freedom. Italian text. Silvia Gavuzzo-Stewart graduated from the University of Rome La Sapienza. She has taught Italian language and literature at the Universities of London and Reading. In Reading she was in charge of teaching history of art in the Department of Italian Studies. She is now an Honorary Fellow of Reading University.

"Printing the Grand Manner" illuminates an extraordinary moment in the intertwined history of painting and printmaking in Europe. The brilliant age of Louis XIV saw the creation of a group of unusually large prints--some of which measure a fantastic five feet by three feet when assembled--that reproduced works by the French king's remarkably inventive court painter, designer, and arts administrator, Charles Le Brun (1619-1690).
The two essays and the catalogue entries in this volume focus on eleven of these monumental reproductive engravings. The authors not only relate the fascinating story of the production of these prints but also explore their role in the glorification of Louis XIV and in forming critical opinion of Le Brun as an artist and as an advocate of history painting in the Grand Manner.
This volume accompanies the exhibition "Printing the Grand Manner: Monumental Prints in the Age of Louis XIV" held at the Getty Research Institute from May 18 to October 17, 2010.

Since the 1940s, printmaker Warrington Colescott has trained his brilliant artistic eye on the fashions and foibles of human behavior. A satirist in the tradition of William Hogarth, Francisco Goya, Honore Daumier, and George Grosz, Colescott utilizes his sharp wit and vivid imagination to interpret contemporary and historical events, from the personal to the public, the local to the international. He is especially noted for his exceptional command of complex printmaking techniques and for his innovative approach to intaglio printing.
"The Prints of Warrington Colescott: A Catalogue Raisonne, 1948-2008" is the first fully illustrated catalogue to document Colescott's extensive and varied graphic career. Author and curator Mary Weaver Chapin has worked closely with Colescott, interviewed him at length, and had unique access to his private papers and archives. She documents his personal and artistic life in a detailed biographic sketch, and her extensive essay "Research Printmaker and Mad-Dog Attack Artist" examines the evolution of his printmaking career, focusing on his technique, iconography, and his place in American printmaking. The catalogue documents and depicts all 359 of Colescott's editioned prints, providing title, date, media, dimensions, and selected exhibition history and collections for each print, along with comments and anecdotes by Chapin and Colescott.
Published in collaboration with the Milwaukee Art Museum
- The exhibition "Warrington Colescott: Cabaret, Comedy & Satire" will open at the Milwaukee Art Museum in June 2010. Visit www.mam.org Finalist, Arts Book, Midwest Book Awards

The Print in the Western World is a comprehensive history of the print from its origins in the fifteenth through the late twentieth century. A source of inspiration to many great painters, such as Titian, Rembrandt, and Manet, printmaking has established its own criteria of aesthetic excellence as well as its own expressive language, both of which are explored here. Scholars and print collectors will find in this well-written and generously illustrated book a valuable reference, students a lucid survey, and art lovers an informative introduction to the history of the print in Europe and America. More than 700 illustrations, forty-nine of them in color, show the evolution of the relief, intaglio, planographic, and stencil processes through the centuries. Giving detailed treatment to the work of five master printmakers-Albrecht Durer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Francisco Goya, Pablo Picasso, and Jasper Johns-the book also discusses in depth numerous other artists, such as Martin Schongauer, Andrea Mantegna, Hendrik Goltzius, Jacques Callot, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, William Hogarth, Honore Daumier, Edouard Manet, Paul Gauguin, Edvard Munch, Kathe Kollwitz, Max Ernst, and Andy Warhol. Although its primary focus is the fine-art original print, The Print in the Western World also addresses in detail the reproductive tradition in printmaking that reached its peak in the eighteenth century and touches on book illustrations, posters, political satires, and vernacular prints such as chromolithographs. Author Linda C. Hults emphasizes the meaning and historical context of prints, the consequences of the print's accessibility to many strata of society, and the relationship among artist, context, subject matter, and technique. The volume includes a glossary of basic printmaking terms, as well as full bibliographies at the end of each chapter, giving readers access to a wide range of recent scholarship on prints.

This original and relevant book investigates the relationship between intellectual property and the visual arts in France from the 16th century to the French Revolution. It charts the early history of privilege legislation (today's copyright and patent) for books and inventions, and the translation of its legal terms by and for the image. Those terms are explored in their force of law and in relation to artistic discourse and creative practice in the early modern period. The consequences of commercially motivated law for art and its definitions, specifically its eventual separation from industry, are important aspects of the story. The artists who were caught up in disputes about intellectual property ranged from the officers of the Academy down to the lowest hacks of Grub Street. Lessons from this book may still apply in the 21st century; with the advent of inexpensive methods of reproduction, multiplication, and dissemination via digital channels, questions of intellectual property and the visual arts become important once more.

"Timon of Athens" is a modern illustrated adaptation of Shakespeare's seldom performed and probably incomplete play. The title character of which becomes misanthropic when the community fails to appreciate his generosity. Wyndam Lewis's original cubo-futurist designs form the basis for the style that came to be known as Vorticism. Designed and printed by Charles D. Jones on Johannot paper by d'Arches. It is 13 in by 9 1/2 in. and has printed end sheets of blue Bugra Hahnemuhle paper. It was printed by hand from polymer plates with 6 color plates and over 30 black and white plates from original designs by Wyndham Lewis created circa. 1912 for use in a proposed edition of Timon that ultimately was produced as a portfolio of plates without the text by the Cube Press in 1912. Working with Omar Pound, an expert on Lewis and controller of rights to his estate, and using my own understanding of Lewis' work, I have attempted to create the work that he would have done. It is bound on boards with a clamshell box covered with Italian Linen book cloth.

The French Popular Lithographic Imagery, 1815-1870 series reproduces in twelve volumes approximately 5000 nineteenth-century lithographs from the collections of the Bibliotheque nationale. Beatrice Farwell's multivolume text-fiche catalog is an essential resource to art historians and will appeal to all those interested in nineteenth-century France.