Искусство

Haruki Murakami's best-loved stories finally in graphic novel form!

Haruki Murakami's novels, essays and short stories have sold millions of copies worldwide and been translated into scores of languages. Now for the first time, in this three-volume series, Murakami's best-loved stories are available in manga form in English.

With their trademark mix of realism and fantasy, centering around Murakami's signature themes of loss, remorse and confusion. The three stories in this volume are:

- The Second Bakery Attack: A newlywed couple lie in bed, hungry. The man tells his wife about when he and a friend robbed a bakery and stole bread to feed themselves for two days. On hearing this story, the woman suggests they try the same thing again.
" […] exemplifies Murakami's sense of the fragility of the ordinary world." —Kirkus Reviews

- Samsa in Love: An extension of the tale of Gregor Samsa in Kafka's The Metamorphosis. The main character wakes up to find himself transformed into someone named Samsa, then falls in love with a hunchback woman who comes to fix the lock on his door.
"Samsa in Love is part of a lineage, going back to the original publication of The Metamorphosis in 1915 and extending up to (and beyond?) the present day." —Los Angeles Times

- Thailand: A middle-aged woman takes a break from her job as a doctor to go on holiday in Thailand. She learns from a spirit doctor that her sterile life and inability to forgive have created a rock in her gut, which will be all that remains of her after she is dead.
"His characters are so persuasive, and the storytelling so spacious.… Murakami's crisp, accomplished stories…have great immediacy." —The Seattle Times

These new graphic versions of classic Murakami short stories will be devoured by his fans and will provide a new window onto his work for a new generation of readers not yet familiar with it!

About the Author:

Haruki Murakami's first novel, Hear the Wind Sing, won the Gunzou Literature Prize in 1979. He is the author of many novels including Norwegian Wood, Sputnik Sweetheart and Kafka on the Shore. He has published three collections of short stories: The Elephant Vanishes, After the Quake and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. The most recent of his many international literary honors is the Jerusalem Prize, whose previous recipients include J. M. Coetzee, Milan Kundera and V. S. Naipaul. Murakami's work has been translated into more than fifty languages.

Jean-Christophe Deveney's comic book adaptations have been published in Italy, Spain, England, USA, Japan and Argentina. He organizes international projects and comics exhibitions. He taught scriptwriting for comics and animation for fifteen years.

PMGL illustrates magazines and underground comix, and publishes comic strips, short stories and feature comics. He also teaches human morphology and anatomy to animators and videogame artists. On the side he collects 45rpm records from the 70s and deejays under the nom de plume Koffi Gnato.

Following the success of The Empire of Death, which has attracted a global cult following, Heavenly Bodies brings the 'catacomb saints' out of the darkness for the first time

In 1578 a labyrinth of underground burials was discovered in Rome that contained the remains of thousands of individuals assumed to be early Christian martyrs. The bones were disinterred and sent to many Catholic churches and religious houses in German-speaking Europe to replace holy relics that had been destroyed during the Protestant Reformation.

Reassembled by skilled artisans, encrusted with gold and jewels and richly dressed in fantastic costumes, the skeletons were displayed in elaborate public shrines as reminders of the spiritual treasures that awaited the faithful after death. For nearly three centuries these ‘Heavenly Bodies’ were venerated as miracle-workers and protectors of their communities until doubts about their authenticity surfaced in the modern era. They then became a source of embarrassment for the Church and most were destroyed or hidden away.

The book includes arresting images of more than seventy spectacular jeweled skeletons and the fascinating stories of dozens more, accompanied by rare archive material. This is the first time that some of these incredible relics – both intriguing historical artifacts and masterpieces of artistic craftsmanship in their own right – have appeared in a publication, with Koudounaris gaining unprecedented access to photograph in some of the most secretive religious establishments in Europe.

Meticulously researched and beautifully written, this is a tour de force of original cultural history with deepest resonances for a modern audience fascinated by visual representations of death.

About the Author:

Paul Koudounaris lives in Los Angeles, where he took his doctorate in the art history department of UCLA. His first book, The Empire of Death: A Cultural History of Ossuaries and Charnel Houses, was published by Thames & Hudson in 2011.

The first book on Chicago-born Hebru Brantley, the preeminent African American pop artist of his generation, whose work is hot and in demand in the art world, the fashion world, street style, and the music world.

Straddling the worlds of fine art, street art, and hip-hop, name-dropped on many a rap song, and collected by the likes of Jay-Z and LeBron James, Hebru is a painter, sculptor, and designer.

He first gained attention as a graffiti artist, tagging walls with colorful depictions of “Flyboy” — a child donning aviator goggles — all over the Windy City. Fast-forward to 2021, and his creations, profoundly influenced by Disney and Japanese Superflat, are now in museums and branded goods for A Bathing Ape, Billionaire Boys Club, Adidas Originals, and a host of other sought-after labels.

At the heart of Hebru’s work is restoring innocence to the depiction of Black youth, often forced into adulthood before their time in the eyes of the law and popular media. Upbeat and life-affirming, Brantley’s work not only attempts to normalize images of Black children at play, his creation of Black superheroes also suggests an entirely new mythology in a cultural landscape often devoid of positive examples.

This book features the breadth of Hebru’s work so far and is the first monograph on his work. Set out in two parts, this work examines both the fine-art and applied-art nature of his work, with both his paintings and his streetwear collaborations receiving pride of place in the design of the book by prominent graphic designer Oliver Munday, currently the art director of The Atlantic.

About the Author:

Hebru Brantley is a contemporary American artist hailing from Chicago and based in Los Angeles. His work is profoundly influenced by anime, pop art, graffiti, and Afrofuturism.

__________

Пролистать книгу Hebru Brantley

The extraordinary Italian heritage of art and nature.

The volume is published in a completely revised edition, updated and extended with the inclusion of all new properties, illustrating places and monuments that over the years have become part of the heritage of FAI, the association that takes deals with their conservation and restoration.

This extensive collection of images and critical articles on the various locations and monuments covers the numerous stages of the acquisition of historical mansions, castles, monasteries and citadels with important frescos, art collections and natural reserves in some of the most suggestive corners of the Italian peninsula: from the castles of Avio, Manta and Masino, to the Abbey of San Fruttuoso, from the Bay of Ieranto to the Torba Monastery, from Villa del Balbianello to Villa Della Porta Bozzolo, Villa and Panza Collection in Biumo (with the prestigious collection of contemporary art), Villa dei Vescovi and Parco Villa Gregoriana. And also, Cala Junco, Castel Grumello, Villa Necchi Campiglio, Casa Carbone, Palazzo and Torre Campatelli, Villa Fogazzaro Roi, the Wood of San Francesco in Assisi, the historic Olivetti Shop in Venice (a Carlo Scarpa’s masterpiece), up to the latest acquisitions such as the millenary Abbey of Santa Maria in Cerrate, Casa Noha, the “Colle dell’Infinito”, the Belvedere of Vasto, the Saline dei conti Vecchi, Casa and Torre Campatelli, Casa Bortoli and Casa Macchi.

About the Author:

Conceived by Elena Croce, daughter of the great philosopher Benedetto Croce and based on the illustrious model of the British National Trust, the FAI – Fondo Ambiente Italiano was founded on 28 April 1975 with the specific aim of helping to protect, conserve and make the most of Italy’s artistic and natural heritage. Loved by poets and travellers of all ages and enchanting millions of tourists by its sheer beauty, Italy possesses the world’s most extraordinary natural, artistic and cultural heritage. This marvellous wealth, alongside those monuments that are known the world over, includes hundreds of often hidden jewels which run a serious risk of deterioration and are subject to the ravages of time and of mankind.

The three-dimensional look of today’s visual culture is being shaped by techniques and styles from fine art and handicraft

High Touch is a powerful collection of cutting-edge tactile design. This choice selection of three-dimensional work defines a new visual language for presentation and storytelling. The handicraft and artisanship necessary for the creation of these works appeal to the interdisciplinary mindset of our time and activate more of our senses than standard two-dimensional images ever could.

High Touch documents an inspiring range of material objects and spatial orchestrations that meld crafts including crochet, papercraft, and the design of costumes and masks with the techniques of more traditional art forms such as installation, sculpture, collage, photography, and illustration. The examples featured in the book prove that the scope for this trailblazing work is enormous. Applications include advertising, brand presentations, editorial design, photography, product design, stage design, and scenography, as well as related fields that either exist already or that their creators have yet to invent.

Today’s visual culture is shaped by a vast wealth of influences from diverse styles, cultures, and eras. Handcrafts including crochet, papercraft, and the design of costumes and masks are being melded with the techniques of more traditional art forms such as installation, sculpture, collage, photography, and illustration. 

A new visual language is currently being formed out of the skillful and unusual combination of creative styles, as well as the use of an expanded range of materials and techniques. One of the most striking aspects of today’s visual culture is its handcrafted quality. The recent work of many creatives is characterized by craftsmanship and an intensive, even laborious exploration of the featured techniques, materials, or styles.

High touch is a term used in design theory to describe an accessible, human visuality. The book High Touch is a compilation of current work that is broadening and enriching this definition in a contemporary way. It presents a rich selection of innovative, often handmade design created with the full spectrum of materials and stylistic devices in existence today - all of which also strive to expand this palette of visual possibilities in a meaningful way.

The examples featured in High Touch prove that the scope of application for this trailblazing work is enormous. It includes advertising, brand presentations, photography, product design, stage design, and scenography, as well as related fields that either exist already or that their creators have yet to invent.

An ingenious take on the Rorschach Inkblot Test – a book packed full of blots that readers can transform into whatever they like

What is Hirameki?
In Japanese, it means a flash of inspiration, which is just what artists Peng & Hu had when they saw a cow with a splotch that looked just like a famous filmstar – and realized that even the splodgiest blot could be easily turned into something amazing. Since then, their passion for collecting blots and dots has taken over their lives.

• Highly creative and a little bit anarchic, this is the perfect outlet for all those who are bored by drawing inside the lines
• It's for everybody: even the most inexperienced doodlers can produce hundreds of sensational scribbles.
• Readers hone their Hirameki skills in seven sections, allowing them to progress from single drawings to complete blot-to-blot scenes.
• Artists Peng & Hu guide the reader with prompts and hints.

Hirameki is set to be the creative phenomenon of 2016!

----------------

Каждая Клякса — это вдохновение. Каждая линия свободна. Откройте свое воображение. «Хирамеки» в переводе с японского означает «своеобразный стиль», «особый отпечаток», «место, где встречаются каракули и воображение». Проще говоря, это искусство превращения случайной кляксы во что-то удивительное с помощью нескольких точек и линий. Если верить тем, кто говорит, что счастье в мелочах, то эта книга должна долго развлекать ваши глаза, руки и голову.

От авторов

В начале была клякса.

ХИРАМЕКИ заключает в себе два основных вида мыслительного процесса: поиск смысла и познание мира.

За неожиданно возникшей идеей следует ее воплощение.

В маленькой кляксе скрыта магия: ее суть становится явной, стоит лишь добавить черточки и точки так, как подсказывает фантазия.

Благодаря ХИРАМЕКИ мы можем испытать воодушевление и радость. Расслабьтесь с ХИРАМЕКИ и позвольте творить мозгу, руке и глазу.

ХИРАМЕКИ помогает находить счастье в малом.

Для кого эта книга

Для всех, кто любит рисовать и кому нравятся классные творческие блокноты.

A landmark book presenting the early "deluxe" versions of Hiroshige's Edo prints for the first time!

Utagawa Hiroshige's unique landscape series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (modern-day Tokyo), first published in the 1850s, is among the best-known collections of Japanese prints and was revolutionary in its day. Individual prints from this collection are regarded as among the finest works in all of Japanese art.

In this series, Hiroshige captures 118 locations in and around Edo, today's Tokyo, during all four seasons and often from hitherto unknown and unique perspectives. These views were first printed in exquisite luxury versions, incorporating innovative woodblock printing features like color gradation. No complete set of the early versions exists today and this is the first book to present a complete set of the deluxe early printings, sourced from 32 different museums and private collections.

Author Andreas Marks consulted 4,700 prints in order to compile this definitive guide to Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo. Marks presents the various printed versions along with reference images showing how and where Hiroshige sourced his ideas for each view — from previous books and illustrations. The result is a definitive guide to understanding the complexity of Hiroshige's great work as well as the dynamics of the Japanese print market during this period.

Marks' introduction discusses the genesis of the series in the context of Japanese landscape art as well as Hiroshige's personal biography. The book then presents all 118 prints together with their source materials and a map showing the locations of each view, followed by a detailed appendix discussing the great color variations found in subsequent printings of the series.

About the Author:

Dr. Andreas Marks is the Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese and Korean Art and director of the Clark Center for Japanese Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. From 2008 to 2013 he was the director and chief curator of the Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture in California. He has a Ph.D. from Leiden University and a master's degree in East Asian Art History from the University of Bonn. A specialist of Japanese woodblock prints, he is the author of over 16 books. In 2014, he received the International Ukiyo-e Society award in recognition of his work and in 2018, the top book award from the International Fine Print Dealers Association.

This elegant volume showcases Hiroshige’s exquisite scenes of 19th-century Japan in a format that honors the Japanese bookmaking tradition.

The last great master of the ukiyo-e tradition, Hiroshige produced works of subtle yet intense color. This collection of prints, first published in the 1850s, contains images of each of Japan’s provinces. Created during Hiroshige’s highly productive later years, this series was an ambitious project that captured a crucial moment in Japan’s history, a decade before the Meiji Restoration would open the doors to industrialization and Western influence. One of its most striking characteristics is the vertical presentation, which allowed Hiroshige to experiment with perspective. His sweeping panoramas of the beautiful countryside combine the illusion of distance with a depth of detail that draws the viewer in. In addition to these glorious landscapes, Hiroshige’s depictions of busy urban centers provide a rare insight into daily life in the Edo era.

This beautiful slip-cased edition includes two volumes: a complete set of seventy prints and a separate booklet that provides an introduction to Hiroshige’s life and art as well as descriptive captions of the prints.

From thundering waterfalls and towering cliffs to wide beaches and bustling harbors, Hiroshige’s native land emerges in serene and exquisite detail — the perfect keepsake for fans of ukiyo-e, Japanese culture, and printmaking.

About the Author:

Anne Sefrioui is the author of numerous art books, including Monet: The Essential Paintings (2023), Kingfisher with Lotus Flower: Birds of Japan (2022), and Van Gogh: The Bigger Picture (2024), all published by Prestel.

Hiroshige: Nature and the City is the most extensive overview of the career of the famed Japanese print artist, Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858) in the English language to date. It is based on the largest collection of Hiroshige in private hands outside Japan, the Alan Medaugh collection.

The catalogue consists of 500 entries, with an emphasis on urban and rural landscapes, fan prints and prints of birds and flowers. Grouped chronologically by subject it presents Hiroshige’s interpretation of the urban scenes from his hometown Edo (present-day Tokyo), the great series documenting travel along the famous highways of Japan, and the idylls of nature as represented in his bird-andflower prints.

Hiroshige often incorporated poetry in his works and for the first time all textual content is transcribed and translated. Additionally, the catalogue pays due attention to the differences between variant editions of his prints. Thus, it provides essential comparative material for every scholar, dealer, and collector.

Five essays precede the catalogue section, each written by specialists in the field. Rhiannon Paget (Curator of Asian Art at The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art) provides a general introduction to Hiroshige’s life and career. Andreas Marks (Curator Minneapolis Museum of Art) contributes two essays: on the publishers of Hiroshige’s prints and on Hiroshige’s collaborative works designed with his colleagues. Shiho Sasaki (conservation specialist at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco) discusses the pigment use in Hiroshige’s prints while John Carpenter (Curator of Japanese Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) investigates the source of the poetry of Hiroshige bird-and-flower prints.

About the Author:

John Carpenter is Curator of Japanese Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he has worked since the summer of 2011. From 1999 to 2009 he taught the history of Japanese art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, and served as Head of the London Office of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures. He has also taught courses at the University of Heidelberg. From 2009 to 2011 he was Visiting Professor at the University of Tokyo. He has published widely on Japanese art, especially in the areas of calligraphy, painting, and woodblock prints. Among his recent publications is a catalogue of an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum, Designing Nature: The Rinpa Aesthetic in Japanese Art (2012).

A fascinating and comprehensive reference album of Hiroshige, the last great figure of the ukiyo-e style.

The great artist of the Japanese popular school of printmaking, Hiroshige (1797-1858) transmuted everyday landscapes into intimate, lyrical scenes. With Hokusai, he dominated the popular art of Japan in the first half of the nineteenth century. He captured, in a poetic, gentle way that all could understand, the ordinary person’s experience of the Japanese landscape as well varied moods of memorable places at different times. His total output was immense, some 5400 prints in all. Ukiyo-e publishing was not a cultural institution subsidized by public funds, but rather a commercial business. During his lifetime, Hiroshige was well known and commercially successful. But the Japanese society did not take 100 much notice of him. His real reputation started with his discovery in Europe.

- This beautiful book, published on the occasion of a major exhibition in Rome, examines various aspects of Hiroshige's oeuvre and reproduces in colour some two hundred of his prints.
- The comprehensive text examines his life and achievement as well as his masterworks and explains the particular qualities that make Hiroshige such an essential artist.

About the Author:

Gian Carlo Calza is Professor of East Asian Art History at the University of Venice. He has published many books, exhibition catalogues and articles.

This magnificent boxed set includes a silkbound volume of stunning, accordion-fold, color reproductions of Hiroshige’s complete series, accompanied by a separate booklet with background and descriptions of each print.

Roughly twenty-five years after Hokusai released his series of ukiyo-e prints depicting Japan’s most recognizable symbol, Hiroshige took on the subject as well — a common practice among the era’s printmakers. This volume features reproductions of the horizontal version of Hiroshige’s woodblock series, first published in 1852, and which reveal a mature artist working at the height of his powers. In the background of each of the views Mount Fuji is featured under varying vantage points and changing lights, towering over sites of sublime beauty, often animated by a few characters living in harmony with nature.

These exquisite fold-out plates are perfect for appreciating Hiroshige’s eye for composition, his nontraditional use of line, and the subtle gradations of colorand mood. Viewers can also learn much about daily life and culture in 19th-century Japan through carefully applied detail and symbolism. In his introductory booklet, Jocelyn Bouquillard provides captions for each print, as well as an appreciation of the remarkable and painstaking process of woodblock printing.

Packaged in an elegant slipcase, these volumes reflect the beautiful artistry and traditions that are embodied in the prints themselves.

About the Author:

Jocelyn Bouquillard is a curator at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and an expert in Japanese prints.

____________

Пролистать книгу Hiroshige: Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji

'A compelling narrative of the workings of a curious, intelligent, visually inventive mind at work … a book designed to instil pleasure and to lift the spirits' Art Quarterly

The story of David Hockney, one of the most widely acclaimed of all living artists, is one of passion: passion for seeing, passion for telling, passion for images. But to these should be added passion for life. Hockney's art is a celebration of what it is to be alive. All his pictures - sometimes tender, as when he draws close friends and family; sometimes playful, as in his paintings of lazy, carefree days at the pool; sometimes awe-inspirin, as with his monumental images of the Grand Canyon - convey what it means to be in the world, to see it, to move in it, to love it. This constant exploration of how to communicate such feelings through art emerges with particular clarity in this stunning, lively volume, which charts almost fifty years of extraordinary creativity.

Hockney's Pictures is the first definitive 'retrospective' to show the evolution and diversity of Hockney's prolific paintings, drawings, watercolours, prints and photography. The works, including many that are new and never published, have been selected and organized by David Hockney himself, and track his lifelong experiments in ways of looking and depicting.

Contents List:

Introduction: Loving the world with new eyes • Problems of Depiction: Looking at Pictures • A Marriage of Styles • Stages • Water • Movement • Moving Viewpoint • Life Stilled: Life and Love • Lives • Still Life • Home • Portraits: Friends • Family • Self • Space and Light: South • West • East • North London • Yorkshire

About the Author:

David Hockney is considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century. He has produced work in almost every medium - painting, drawing, stage design, photography and printmaking - and has stretched the boundaries of all of them. Born in Bradford, England, in 1937, Hockney attended art school in London before moving to Los Angeles in the 1960s. There, he painted his famous swimming pool paintings. In a 2011 poll of more than 1,000 British artists, Hockney was voted the most influential British artist of all time. He continues to create and exhibit art.

Celebrating sixty years of extraordinary creativity

The story of Hockney is one of passion: passion for seeing, passion for telling, passion for images. But to these should be added passion for life. Hockney's art is a celebration of what it is to be alive. All his pictures – sometimes tender, as when he draws close friends and family; sometimes playful, as in his paintings of lazy, carefree days by the pool; sometimes awe-inspiring, as with his monumental images of the Grand Canyon – convey what it means to be in the world, to see it, to move in it, to love it.

This constant exploration of how to communicate such experiences and perceptions through art emerges with particular clarity in this visually dense volume, now updated with a new final chapter that focuses on his prolific recent work in series across various media, including the iPad. Charting almost sixty years of extraordinary creativity, the book is arranged thematically to show the evolution and diversity of Hockney’s prolific paintings, drawings, watercolours, prints and photography. It also features quotes from the artist that illuminate the passion and deep thought behind his work.

Hockney's Pictures celebrates the artist's lifelong experiments in ways of looking, seeing and depicting.

About the Author:

David Hockney is one of the most influential British artists of the last sixty years. He has produced work in almost every medium – painting, drawing, stage design, photography, printmaking and stained glass – and has stretched the boundaries of all of them. His groundbreaking Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters is published by Thames & Hudson, as are his books in partnership with Martin Gayford: A Bigger Message (2011), A History of Pictures (2016) and Spring Cannot be Cancelled (2021). He continues to create and exhibit art, and to inspire enormous affection and admiration worldwide.

The ultimate publication on Hokuei, the master of Osaka ukiyo-e printmakers and one of the most intriguing artists ever in kabuki-actor prints.

Hokuei: Master of Osaka Kabuki Prints centers on one of the most intriguing artists in kabuki actor prints: Shunbaisai Hokuei (act. ca. 1828–36). A culminating, yet enigmatic, figure in Osaka ukiyo-e prints, Hokuei produced more masterworks than any other artist of his day in the Kyoto-Osaka (Kamigata) region. The prints in this richly illustrated publication are largely drawn from the John Fiorillo collection, considered the most extensive of Hokuei’s works.

The book presents a thoughtful and thorough overview of the artist’s life and career in the world of Kamigata print production. Also included is a section highlighting fifty-six meticulously researched and remarkably well-preserved prints. Through Hokuei’s prints, the world of kabuki comes alive in fascinating detail, while assessments of design and technical attributes bring into focus the achievements of Hokuei and Kamigata print designers of the period. Of particular importance for scholars and collectors is a fully illustrated and annotated catalogue raisonné of the artist’s to-date documented 270 prints, a number of which are designs unique to the Fiorillo collection.

Appendices introduce aspects of Hokuei’s prints, including summary data on print formats, figure types, deluxe printings, woodblock-printed books, and the artist’s students; signatures and seals; publishers; block-cutters and printers; kabuki theaters; and the making of Japanese prints. The depth and scope of information provided in Hokuei: Master of Osaka Kabuki Prints makes it a singular reference for scholars, collectors, and enthusiasts of Osaka prints, of the artist Hokuei, and of the world of kabuki.

About the Author:

John Fiorillo is an independent researcher and writer on traditional and modern Japanese prints, with a particular interest in Kamigata-e (“Osaka prints”) and Sōsaku Hanga (“Creative prints”). Over time, he came to especially love and admire the actor prints produced in Osaka, a genre often overlooked by collectors and scholars. Mr. Fiorillo has regularly published in the art journal Andon (Society for Japanese Art, Leiden), contributed to the Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints (2005), and designed and written extensive articles for the websites “ViewingJapanesePrints.net" (since 1999) and “OsakaPrints.com" (since 2005). Mr. Fiorillo also serves as a member of the Andon editorial board.

Over a century and a half after his death, Katsushika Hokusai is still one of Japan’s most popular and influential artists.

This handy volume presents the wide range of Hokusai’s artistic production in terms of one of his most remarkable characteristics: his intellectual ingenuity. It attempts to answer the question of how the self-styled ‘Man Mad about Drawing’ approached his subjects – how he depicted human bodies in motion, combined figures and landscape, represented three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface, and used techniques of illusionism or adjusted reality for greater visual or emotional effect.

Including some fifty stunning and unusual paintings, prints, and drawings from the peerless Japanese art collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, this book is a treasure trove that introduces readers to a witty, wide-ranging and inimitably ingenious Hokusai.