From Edouard Manet's portrait of naturalist writer Emile Zola
sitting among his Japanese art finds to Van Gogh's meticulous
copies of the Hiroshige prints he devotedly collected, 19th-century
pioneers of European modernism made no secret of their love of
Japanese art. In all its sensuality, freedom, and effervescence,
the woodblock print is single-handedly credited with the wave of
japonaiserie that first enthralled France and, later, all of
Europe-but often remains misunderstood as an "exotic" artifact that
helped inspire Western creativity. The fact is that the Japanese
woodblock print is a phenomenon of which there exists no Western
equivalent. Some of the most disruptive ideas in modern
art-including, as Karl Marx put it, that "all that is solid melts
into air"-were invented in Japan in the 1700s and expressed like
never before in the designs of such masters as Hokusai, Utamaro,
and Hiroshige in the early 19th century. This volume, derived from
the original XXL monograph, lifts the veil on a much-loved but
little-understood art form by presenting the most exceptional
Japanese woodblock prints in their historical context. Ranging from
the 17th-century development of decadent ukiyo-e, or "pictures of
the floating world," to the decline and later resurgence of prints
in the early 20th century, the images collected in this edition
make up an unmatched record not only of a unique genre in art
history, but also of the shifting mores and cultural development of
Japan. From mystical mountains to snowy passes, samurai swordsmen
to sex workers in shop windows, each piece is explored as a work of
art in its own right, revealing the stories and people behind the
motifs. We discover the four pillars of the woodblock
print-beauties, actors, landscapes, and bird-and-flower
compositions-alongside depictions of sumo wrestlers, kabuki actors,
or enticing courtesans-rock stars who populated the "floating
world" and whose fan bases fueled the frenzied production of
woodblock prints. We delve into the horrifying and the obscure in
prints where demons, ghosts, man-eaters, and otherworldly creatures
torment the living-stunning images that continue to influence
Japanese manga, film, and video games to this day. We witness how,
in their incredible breadth, from everyday scenes to erotica, the
martial to the mythological, these works are united by the
technical mastery and infallible eye of their creators and how,
with tremendous ingenuity and tongue-in-cheek wit, publishers and
artists alike fought to circumvent government censorship. As part
of our 40th anniversary series, this edition compiles the finest
extant impressions from museums and private collections across the
globe in a lightweight, accessible format, offering extensive
descriptions to guide us through this frantic period in Japanese
art history. About the series TASCHEN is 40! Since we started our
work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, TASCHEN has become
synonymous with accessible publishing, helping bookworms around the
world curate their own library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia
at an unbeatable price. Today we celebrate 40 years of incredible
books by staying true to our company credo. The 40 series presents
new editions of some of the stars of our program-now more compact,
friendly in price, and still realized with the same commitment to
impeccable production.
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