Искусство

This book explores James Tissot’s multifaceted career and provides a fresh perspective on the 19th-century French painter.

James Tissot is best known for his paintings of fashionable women and society life in the late 19th century. Born in Nantes, France, he trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris where he befriended James McNeill Whistler and Edgar Degas. Tissot’s career defies categorization and he never formally belonged to the Impressionist circle despite an invitation from Degas. An astute businessman, Tissot garnered commercial and critical success on both sides of the English Channel while defying traditional conventions. He received recognition at the time from patrons and peers, and even his society portraits reveal a rich and complex commentary on Victorian and fin-de-siècle culture. This lavishly illustrated book, featuring paintings, enamels, and works on paper, explores Tissot’s life and career from his early period in Nantes to his later years when he made hundreds of spiritual and religious works. The volume also includes essays that introduce new scholarship to redefine Tissot’s placement within the narratives of the 19th-century canon.

Exhibition Itinerary:
Legion of Honor, San Francisco: October 12, 2019–February 9, 2020
Musée d’Orsay, Paris: March 23–July 19, 2020

About the Authors:

Melissa E. Buron is Director of the Art Division at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
Marine Kisiel is Curator at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
Krystyna Matyjaszkiewicz is an independent art historian and specialiston James Tissot.
Paul Perrin is Curator at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
Cyrille Sciama is Curator at the Musée d’Arts de Nantes.

An inner journey into the beauty of simplicity through the masterpieces of one of the largest and best-known collections of Japanese art outside Japan Among the many ways one can approach a distant country there are study, travel, and a special sensitivity that allow a person to distinctly interpret the reasons behind a culture.

In the case of Jeffrey Montgomery and his splendid collection all three of these elements interact in a surprisingly harmonious way. The works he has collected during his lifetime lead to the very heart of Japanese art, accompanying us on a fascinating journey to discover the aesthetic ideals of a civilization that goes back millennia.

Published on the occasion of the exhibition in Lugano, the volume presents one hundred and seventy works from the period between the 12th and 20th centuries – including textiles, furniture, paintings, religious and everyday-objects – carefully selected from the over one thousand objects collected over a lifetime by Jeffrey Montgomery. Renowned worldwide, the Montgomery Collection displays an extraordinary richness and a very singular substance: it is a collection of “oriental art”, and at the same time it expressed a “folk culture” reinterpreted in very elevated aesthetic terms by the elegant and refined choices made by the collector who had dedicated his entire life to it.

Edited by Francesco Paolo Campione, in collaboration with Moira Luraschi, Japan Arts and Life contains the essays by Francesco Paolo Campione (An Impermanent Journey between Art and Life); Matthi Forrer (Collecting Japanese Art Objects); Rossella Menegazzo (The Other Side of Japan. The Jeffrey Montgomery Collection between Art, Crafts, and Folklore); Giorgio Amitrano (Japan, the Beautiful, and Ourselves); Imogen Heitmann (The Museographical Display as a Creative ‘Meta-work’). The volume presents also the catalogue and the entries of the works, edited by Moira Luraschi and divided into thematic sections (Paintings; Woven objects; Hooks and counterweights; Ceramics; Fabrics; Lanterns; Masks; Furniture; Signs; Kettles and pourers; Sculptures; Lacquers).
Paolo Campione teaches Cultural Anthropology at the University of Insubria and he is the Director of the MUSEC Museo delle Culture, Lugano. Moira Luraschi, anthropologist, is curator of the Japanese collections and the photographic collection of the Yokohama School at MUSEC, Lugano.

________

Among the many ways one can approach a distant country, there are studies, travel, and a special sensitivity that allow a person to distinctly interpret the reasons behind a culture. In the case of Jeffrey Montgomery and his splendid collection all three of these elements interact in a surprisingly harmonious way. The works he has collected during his lifetime lead to the very heart of Japanese art, accompanying us on a fascinating journey to discover the aesthetic ideals of a civilization that goes back millennia.

About the Authors:

Francesco Paolo Campione teaches Cultural Anthropology at the University of Insubria and he is the Director of the MUSEC Museo delle Culture, Lugano.
Moira Luraschi, anthropologist, is curator of the Japanese collections and the photographic collection of the Yokohama School at MUSEC, Lugan.

Founded in 1852, the V&A has acquired Japanese objects from its earliest years and played a significant role in bringing the art of Japan to the attention of designers, manufacturers and the British public.

This tradition continues to the present day and in this new book some of the world’s leading researchers in this field bring their attention to the V&A’s unparalleled collection. Ten chapters focus on subjects such as the effects of Buddhism on the country’s arts and culture; the samurai; the highly aestheticized tea ceremony, which has been a notable feature of Japanese culture from the Medieval period up to the present day; Ukiyo-e and the graphic arts (prints, illustrated books, paintings and screens from the Edo period); exchanges with the West and imperialism, right up to modern and contemporary crafts and design including manga and high-tech design.

About the Author:

Gregory Irvine is Senior Curator in the V&A's Asian Department, where he specializes in Japanese metalwork.

Demons, sorcerers, ninjas……explaining the origins of Japan’s dark heroes from the perspective of Japanese art.

In many “dark fantasy” manga and anime, which are hugely popular today, characters use extraordinary abilities to carve out their destiny.

In Japanese art, too, characters who can be seen as prototypes of those manga and anime characters with extraordinary abilities, such as sorcerers or samurai who control magical beasts, have often been depicted. There are also works here and there, such as giants who slay demons and eat humans, or people whose hands stretch, that are reminiscent of world famous artworks. This timeless collection focuses mainly on creatures with “extraordinary abilities” who appear in ghost stories and legends from the Edo period and explains the current trends behind anime and manga.

Chapter I: Lineage of Figures with Supernatural Abilities
・The Gathering and Revelry of Supernatural Figures; Arhats, Immortal Hermits, Sorcerers, Japanese Mythological Deities
Chapter II: Astounding Physical Performances
・Shape-shifting and Extraordinary Mobility of Beings, Falling between Humans and Non-humans
Chapter III: Threatening Natural Phenomena
・Disastrous Destructibility of Fire, Water, Wind, Thunder, Light
Chapter IV: Concert of Beasts
・Terrifying yet Dependable Companions; Fierce, Mythical, Divine and Supernatural Beasts
Chapter V: Profusion of Supernatural Beings
・Embodiments of Human Desires of Flight, Cloning Selves, Curses, Enchantment
Chapter VI: Fantastical Battles
・Overflow of Life and Imagination; Demon-slaying, Dragon-slaying, Sorcerers’ Duels, Grand Conflicts

About the Author:

Shoko Haruki was born in Hokkaido, Japan in 1986. After working at the Hokkaido Museum, Haruki has been curator at the Edo-Tokyo Museum since 2017 specializing in Japanese art history.

A striking and unusual view of the rich variety of Japanese art.

Offering a superb insight into a wide array of Japanese art, the book highlights – close-up and in colour – outstanding examples of design and craft in prints, paintings and screens, metalwork, ceramics, wood, stone and lacquer and will provide endless creative inspiration.

By showing the complete artwork alongside enlarged details – sometimes virtually invisible to the naked eye – intriguing comparisons can be drawn between seemingly unrelated pieces and the full craftsmanship can be seen.

This title is ideal for anyone interested in decorative arts and design, general readers, students and art historians alike.

____________

Beautifully illustrated with an array of Japanese art, this book offers a closer look at the rich variety of styles, decoration, motifs and patterns – and the sheer craftsmanship – of Japanese culture. Opening with an introduction that asks ‘What is Japanese art?’, this book presents a selection of striking and fascinating art from Japan, organised into a series of thematic chapters in which the author provides cultural context while pointing out exceptional features. By showing the complete artwork alongside enlarged details – sometimes virtually invisible to the naked eye – intriguing comparisons can be drawn between seemingly unrelated pieces. The selection of illustrations evokes the hand and eye of the most accomplished Japanese craftsmen and women past and present. Offering a superb insight into a wide array of Japanese art, the book highlights – close up and in colour – outstanding examples of design and craft in prints, paintings and screens, metalwork, ceramics, wood, stone and lacquer and will provide endless creative inspiration.

Japan’s origin story dates from the eighth century CE, written in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. From the first creation of heaven, earth and the Japanese archipelago from the tip of a spear by the gods Izanagi and Izanami, Shinto and Buddhist traditions make up the cornerstones of Japanese mythology.

Japanese Myths provides a clear, concise introduction to this fascinating, if little-known, world. Find out about Hachiman (八幡神), the mighty god of war and the divine protector of Japan and its people. Marvel at Fujin (風神), the god of the wind, a popular but terrifying demon – his bag of air is thought to move all the world’s winds, and he is a powerful force of nature alongside his brother, the thunder god Raijin. See Hotei (布袋), the “Laughing Buddha” and one of the most well-known symbols of Buddhism – rubbing his belly is said to bring good luck. And enjoy the myth of Shita-kiri Suzume, or “Toung-Cut Sparrow”, which explores the effects of greed, friendship and jealousy.

Illustrated with 150 photographs and artworks, Japanese Myths is an accessible, entertaining and highly informative exploration of everything from the kami holy spirits venerated in Shinto religion to the divine origins of the Japanese imperial family.

About the Author:

Melanie Clegg holds a BA (Hons) in Japanese Studies from the University of Oxford. After almost a decade spent in Japan, she now resides in the UK, where she works as a freelance Japanese-to-English translator of video games and other entertainment media. She lives with her husband and their two one-eyed cats

In 1868, Japan underwent a dramatic transformation following the overthrow of the shogun by supporters of Emperor Meiji, marking the end of feudal military rule and ushering in a new era of government that promoted modernizing the country and interacting with other nations.

Japanese print culture, which had flourished for more than a century with the production of color woodcuts (the so-called ukiyo-e, or “floating world” images), also changed course during the Meiji era (1868–1912), as societal changes and the once-isolationist country’s new global engagement provided a wealth of new subjects for artists to capture. Featuring selections from the renowned Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts’ permanent collection, Japanese Prints in Transition: From the Floating World to the Modern World documents the shift from delicately colored ukiyo-e depictions of actors, courtesans, and scenic views to brightly colored images of Western architecture, modern military warfare, technology (railroad trains, steam-powered ships, telegraph lines), and Victorian fashions and customs.

About the Authors:

Rhiannon Paget is the curator of Asian art at the John & Mabel Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida. Karin Breuer is curator in charge of the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts.

Showcases and analyses highlights from Van Gogh’s collection of Japanese prints, exploring the key role they played in his creative output

Here is a beautiful exploration of Van Gogh’s obsession with Japan, revealing a selection of the prints he owned himself (all from the Van Gogh Museum), side by side with his own paintings and sketches, including the Almond Blossoms masterpiece, The Courtesan, Plum Blossom and Bridge in the Rain. This opportunity to share Van Gogh’s vision lends us a compelling insight into one of the most powerful creative influences behind his art.

Vincent van Gogh fell under the spell of Japanese printmaking in Paris, where he purchased more than 600 prints from a dealer. He hung them in his studio, and they taught him a new way of looking at the world. Van Gogh liked the unusual spatial effects, the expanses of strong colour, the everyday subjects and the attention to details from nature. He was also keen to find a modern, more primitive kind of painting that engaged directly with the viewer. Japanese prints showed him the way, with nature still as his starting point.

About the Authors:

Axel Rüger is Director of the Van Gogh Museum.
Marije Vellekoop is the Van Gogh Museum’s Head of Collections, Research and Presentation.

Contents List:

1. Foreword by Axel Rüger, director Van Gogh Museum • 2. Van Gogh’s collection of Japanese prints: from commodities to a study collection and utopian ideal, Louis van Tilborgh • 3. The Van Gogh Museum’s collection of Japanese prints: an analysis, Chris Uhlenbeck • 4. Popular Collectibles in Van Gogh’s Time: Japanese Crepe Prints, Shigeru Oikawa • 5. A selection of 130 Japanese prints from the Van Gogh Museum collection

The first book to present the amazing swords and armor belonging to the most famous Samurai in Japanese history!

Paul Martin, a world-renowned scholar of Japanese swords, takes us on a journey of discovery of samurai culture through an examination of valuable weapons and armor belonging to thirty of Japan's most celebrated warriors, many of which are classified as Important Cultural Propertiesor National Treasures and therefore rarely seen by the public.

Japanese Swords and Armor covers the entire development of the samurai class, from the 10th to the 19th centuries, and offers a compelling journey into the minds and aesthetic sensibilities of the legendary warriors through a wealth of iconography with art images, exclusive photographs and life-size reproductions of some of the most prestigious swords in history.

Get a close-up look at scores of magnificent blades, fittings and armor which belonged to thirty of the most famous warriors and leaders in Japanese history including:

- A wooden sword commissioned and owned by Miyamoto Musashi — Japan's greatest swordsman; an exact replica of the sword he wielded at the legendary duel on Ganryu-jima Island
- The tachi blade worn by Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the powerful unifier of Japan — which was later presented to the Meiji Emperor
- The katchu (armor) belonging to Minamoto no Yoshitsune, hero of the Genpei Wars and later gifted as a votive offering to the Kasuga Shrine in Nara
- The naginata (halberd) said to be the favored weapon of Tomoe Gozen, Japan's famous female Samurai, that was immortalized in the classic book Tale of the Heike
And many more!

These masterful works of art are presented in 200 stunning color photos including eight double gatefolds. This is a must-have work for all enthusiasts and experienced collectors, as well as for those approaching this fascinating subject for the first time.

Illustrations: over 200 full-color photos and three 8-page double-gatefolds with metallic silver

About the Author:

Paul Martin is a Tokyo-based Japanese sword and culture specialist who brings expertise from his tenure as a curator at the British Museum, where he managed the Japanese arms and armor collections. With a Master's Degree in Asian Studies, he's a Trustee for the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Sword Culture and founder of the Shin-Gobankaji Project. He is the first non-Japanese recipient and two-time winner of Tokyo's sword appraisal competition. Paul has translated for major Japanese sword exhibitions, authored key books and DVDs, and appeared on global TV networks from the Discovery Channel, to History Channel, National Geographic, NHK World, and the BBC.

In addition to his martial arts achievements, including being a three-time English Karate champion, 4th Dan Kendo, and 5th Dan Iaido, and Batto-jutsu practitioner, Paul plays pivotal roles in documentary production; he's the associate producer for "Art of the Japanese Sword" and executive producer for the award-winning "Forgive-Don't Forget." Notably, he's been recognized with the 2022 Scottish Samurai (Sir Thomas Glover) Taisho Award and the 2022 Shibusawa Eiichi Abacus and Analects Award for promoting Japanese culture worldwide, particularly Japanese swords.

This book presents tattoos in Japan with all their astounding richness and sophistication.

The history of this unique folk art, its meaning, social background, and evolution as well as a collection of rare interviews with master tattooists made over the past thirty years.

In the world of tattoo art, few traditions can rival the elaborate and refined artistry of Japanese tattoos. In this richly illustrated book, The Tattooed Body by the French historian and journalist who specialises in Japan and Korea Phillipe Pons, readers will find a wealth of detailed information about the history of this unique folk art, its relation to literature and art plus great colour photographs of their work. Remarkable for the richness of their iconography, the balance of their compositions, and their refinement in details, Japanese tattoos have seduced since the fifteenth century Western travellers, merchants and later, in the 18th and 19th century sailors, soldiers, eccentrics and artists such as Degas, Monet, and Toulouse-Lautrec. Yet, despite its cultural significance and aesthetic beauty, while recognised worldwide, tattoos don't share in Japan itself the status and official recognition and support of other traditional art forms such as "the way of tea", the flower arrangement (Ikebana), or Kabuki theatre.

The book explains why and shows the historical influence of Japanese tattooing on the worldwide tattoo community and its integration into the modern global cultural landscape. Readers will learn about the shift from "brocade skins" covering the entire body to the current Japanese tattoo renaissance where "one-point" tattoos are favoured by young people which combine ancient motifs and anime, to the point where traditionalists are wondering if the "tattoo" is losing its authenticity.

With over 270 illustrations, this book is a powerful tribute to the artistry, skill, and enduring charm of Japanese tattooing. Perfect for tattoo enthusiasts, this comprehensive and visually stunning book is a must-have also for East Asian art lovers and those with an appreciation for cultural traditions.

About the Author:

Philippe Pons (10 August 1942) is a French historian, specialist in Japan and Korea, and the Tokyo correspondent for the daily Le Monde, covering current events in the Far East. Along with Christian Sautter, in 1973 he co-founded the Centre for Research on Japan (CRJ), a research institute dedicated to contemporary Japan, now part of the prestigious French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), and served as its co-director. His first articles for Le Monde date from 1974. In 1976, he became the daily's correspondent in Japan, from where he also covered the Philippines, South Korea and North Korea, countries which he visited twenty times between 1979 and 2020. As a specialist he is the author of many books and articles on the history, culture and politics of Japan and North Korea, and with the historian Pierre Francois Souyri, of a volume about the history of sexuality and eroticism in Japan (all publications in French). Aside from five years spent in Rome, he has lived in Tokyo since the late 1970s.

The intimate relationship of Japanese tattooing with the dark world of the yakuza has helped cover this form of artistic expression with an aura of mystery. But the culture of irezumi is deep and rich in meanings, shapes and motifs that have gone from color woodblock prints to being applied to the skin to beautify and protect their bearers.

This book reveals the meaning and the secrets behind the most significant motifs from traditional Japanese tattooing such as mythological and supernatural creatures, animals, Buddhist deities, flowers and historical characters and turns this art form into a path toward personal knowledge and individual expression. Readers will discover the origin and meaning of each visual representation of the most frequent themes in this art form. Irezumi itai begins with a brief review of the history of Japanese tattoo art and then examines each subject (water, mythological animals, real animals, mythological characters, historical characters, flowers, shunga and yokai) through images and descriptive texts; it also includes a gallery of original designs by the author and a glossary.

Elegantly packaged in a bespoke box, these 100 postcards feature some of the most spectacular examples of artworks made in the age-old woodblock tradition. All sourced from the V&A's outstanding collections, the Japanese Woodblock Print Postcard Box is the third release in the best-selling V&A box set series. Each set celebrates the V&A's status as a source of inspiration for designers, reflecting the unique breadth and depth of a collection that represents over 3,000 years of objects from all over the world.

Vinyl Mania. The greatest in jazz LP art

Part design history, part trip down musical memory lane, this anthology of jazz album artwork is above all a treasure trove of creative and cultural inspiration. Spanning half a century, it assembles the most daring and dynamic jazz cover designs that helped make and shape not only a musical genre but also a particular way of experiencing life.

From the 1940s through to the decline of LP production in the early 1990s, each chosen cover design is distinct in the way it complements the energy of the album’s music with its own visual rhythms of frame, line, text, and form. To satisfy even the most demanding of music geeks, each record cover is accompanied by a fact sheet listing performer and album name, art director, photographer, illustrator, year, label, and more.

The author:

Joaquim Paulo is a consultant for major labels and directs a number of radio stations in Portugal. He started collecting vinyl at 15, and flies to London, Paris, New York and São Paulo to enrich his collection of over 25,000 LPs. He lives and works in Lisbon and dedicates his free time to recovering old and rare recordings.

The editor:

Julius Wiedemann studied graphic design and marketing and was an art editor for newspapers and design magazines in Tokyo before joining TASCHEN in 2001. His titles include the Illustration Now! and Record Covers series, as well as the infographics collection and books about advertising and visual culture.

American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–1988) quickly became one of art history’s most luminescent personalities; his friendships with Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Madonna, as well as his tragic death at the age of twenty-seven, are the stuff of legend.

This retrospective publication traces the artist’s unique career and pinpoints his important position in art history. Basquiat’s works are marked by the kind of intensity and energy that also determined the course of his brief life. In just eight years - comparable to the career of Egon Schiele - Basquiat not only managed to create an extensive oeuvre but also to establish new figurative and expressive elements alongside Conceptual and Minimal Art. At the age of twenty-one, he became the youngest artist ever to be invited to the documenta, while his work also anticipated that of Germany’s Junge Wilde movement and the art of the nineties.

Over seventy works from museums and private collections trace out the meteoric career of Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988), “enfant terrible” of the art world who quickly became the symbol of the New York multiethnic culture of the Eighties.

With essays by Achille Bonito Oliva, Henry Geldzahler, Richard D. Marshall, Jeffrey Hoffeld, Bruno Bischofberger, and Luciano Caprile, a catalogue of Basquiat’s works (edited by Luca Marenzi) and his biography (by Gaia Regazzoni), the monograph accompanying the Lugano exhibition retraces the entire artistic development of this legendary figure, called by some the “Jimi Hendrix of art” or the “Boy-King”, providing readers with an in-depth view of one of the preeminent figures in the Twentieth-century international art scene.

The tragic victim perhaps of his own inner fire, which consumed the proudly mixed-race and errant artist at the youthful age of 27, Basquiat made his entrance into the art world with graffiti work signed SAMO©, and became a protagonist of the US graffiti movement in the late Seventies alongside Keith Haring. In the early Eighties, after his participation in collective exhibitions at alternative galleries that sought to give visitors a full panorama of the current New York art and cultural scene, Basquiat was officially launched into the art world as a painter at the tender age of 21, thanks to an article written by the critic René Ricard who compared him to masters such as Cy Twombly and Jean Dubuffet.

Basquiat was one of the few emerging artists to experience not only immediate international fame but also the at times impetuous requests to exhibit his works in the most notable New York art galleries — and soon thereafter, all over the world. Intelligent, curious and full of a lust for life, Basquiat broke with tradition and blazoned his cruel truths about the true perils of modern life: money, drugs, sex, adulation, oppression and racism. The rebel artist incorporated a great variety of elements into his work, from symbols of mass culture, jazz legends and famous black sports heroes and musicians to the skeletons and skulls evoking his fascination with death.
His creations are a fusion of symbols, words and colours. His colours are not those of a painting on an easel created with studied art, they are the colours of life, the colours of the street, both brilliant and faded, overlaid like torn posters that don’t hide what lies beneath.

The chronological presentation of the selected works includes some fifty paintings, twenty drawings, collaborations done with Andy Warhol and Francesco Clemente, and canvases commissioned by Bruno Bischofberger of Zurich, Basquiat’s exclusive European representative. Basquiat would establish a fundamental bond with Warhol, and the death of the master of Pop Art in 1987 would leave a great void in his life.

The catalogue concludes with previously unpublished photographs by the noted Lugano film director, Edo Bertoglio. A number of these were taken during the shooting of the film “New York Beat” later renamed “Downtown 81”, in which Basquiat plays the lead role of a nineteen-year-old unknown artist trying to survive in the churning artistic and musical circles of downtown New York in the early Eighties.