Книги о восточном искусстве

If you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win numerous battles without a single loss. – Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Written in the 6th century BC, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War is still used as a book of military strategy today. Napoleon, Mae Zedong and Douglas MacArthur all claimed to have drawn inspiration from it. And beyond the world of war, modern-era business and management gurus have also applied Sun Tzu’s ideas to politics and corporate strategy. This illustrated dual-language edition not only presents the original Chinese characters with James Trapp’s translation on the facing page, it also tests Sun Tzu’s ideas against history. Each of the 13 chapters includes a new commentary giving examples of how Sun Tzu’s wisdom has been borne out on the world’s battlefields. When, for example, has information provided by spies changed the course of a battle? How has history shown Sun Tzu’s ideas on the importance of terrain in conflict to be true? And where can we best find examples of strategic warfare being waged? From the ancient world to the 20th century, the battles featured are illustrated with colour battle maps, paintings and artworks. Of immense influence to leaders across millennia, The Art of War Illustrated is a classic text richly deserving this illustrated and expanded dual-language edition.

About the Authors:

Sun Tzu (also known as Sunzi) was traditionally thought by historians to have been born around 544BCE, and that he later served as a general leading the forces of King He Lü of Wu, one of the seven Warring States of Eastern China during the Spring and Autumn period, and The Art of War is based on his many victories, although modern scholarship suggests the book may have been written later.

James Trapp is the author of Chinese Characters: The Art and Meaning of Hanzi, Chinese Proverbs and Tao Te Ching. A Chinese language graduate of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, he teaches Mandarin and is an Education Officer on the China Collection at the British Museum.

‘Tea began as a medicine and grew into a beverage,’ are the opening words of Okakura Kakuzō’s The Book of Tea, written in English in 1906 for a Western audience. The book is a long essay celebrating the secular art of the Japanese tea ceremony and linking its importance with Zen Buddhism and Taoism. It is both about cultural life, aesthetics and philosophy, emphasising how Teaism – a term Kakuzō coined – taught the Japanese many things; most importantly, simplicity, which can be seen in Japanese art and architecture. Looking back at the evolution of the Japanese tea ceremony, Kakuzō argues that Teaism, in itself, is one of the profound universal remedies that two parties could sit down to. Where the West had scoffed at Eastern religion and morals, it held Eastern tea ceremonies in high regard.

With a new introduction, this is an exquisitely produced edition of a classic text made using traditional Chinese bookbinding techniques. Surely it’s time for tea.

About the Author:

Okakura Kakuzo was born in 1862, the son of a merchant. He learnt English as a child and went on to study languages at Tokyo University. There, he started a movement to preserve Japanese culture from the rise of modernism and westernisation. At the age of only twenty-nine, he was made principal of the National Art School, and many of his students went on to become famous artists. In 1898, he resigned to found a dissident school of art. To raise funds, he travelled to America, where he found a wealthy and interested patron in Mrs Isabella Gardner, ‘Queen of Boston’. Now a successful artist, he was also appointed curator of Chinese and Japanese art at the Boston Museum. A dramatic and extroverted character, he wrote The Book of Tea in 1906 and died seven years later, in 1913.

Whether it be Cosplay, Rockabilly, HipHop or Gothic: when the Japanese immerse in a subculture, they do it like no other.

The otaku’s passion is all-consuming. Whether it be cosplay, gothic, or rockabilly, when the Japanese embrace a subculture, they do it like no other. From Lolita fashion and latex couture to neon-drenched big-rigs, anime-plastered vans, and chrome-heavy hot rods, subcultures in Japan are as varied as they are fascinating.

Delving into these worlds, The Obsessed reveals the extraordinary passion devotees have for their hobbies and lifestyles. With dazzling photography, on-the-ground interviews, and cultural essays, this book showcases a kaleidoscope of scenes and individuals drawn from Japan’s many countercultural groups.

About the Author:

Irwin Wong is an editorial and commercial photographer based in Tokyo. Originally from Melbourne, Australia, he moved to Japan in 2005. He was Co-editor of gestalten’s Handmade in Japan, published in 2020.

Drawing on images of women and men from the heyday of Japanese printmaking, this book explores the subtle iconography and complex symbols inherent in the tradition of ukiyo-e (traditional Japanese woodblock printing meaning 'Fleeting World'). The intriguing elements refer to Japanese history, literature, mythology, fashion, folklore and gossip of the Edo period and are at times difficult to discern, let alone grasp, without proper knowledge. Divided into classic printmaking themes such as beautiful women, heroes, actors and shunga (erotic prints), this lavishly illustrated book provides readers with the keys to understanding the hidden meanings in more than 100 top Japanese prints. 

Beautiful women – including ladies from Edo's famous Yoshiwara brothel district – take up much of the book. Heroes and villains illustrate Japan's rich mythological and pseudo-historical past. The popular pastimes of kabuki and sumo are also covered: famous actors play their best-known roles as brave men or delicate geisha. These colourful masterpieces demonstrate the economy of line and powerful expression of the woodblock medium. Each print is explored in the finest detail in order to explain the many riddles of ukiyo-e – that intriguing and captivating mode of visual expression that had such a profound influence on Western art.

About the Authors:

Chris Uhlenbeck has been a dealer in Japanese prints for 40 years. He acted as curator of many exhibitions in the field of Japanese art, starting with the major retrospective exhibition on 20th-century Japanese prints from the Robert O. Muller collection in 1992 for the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, The Fondation L'Hermitage in Lausanne and the Musée Marmottan in Paris. From 2007, he fulfilled the role of curator of the Nihon no Hanga museum in Amsterdam for 10 years. Between 2011 and 2021 he created various exhibitions in the Japan Museum SieboldHuis in Leiden: on Hiroshige (2011), Yoshitoshi (2012) Kuniyoshi (2013), Kunisada (2015) and recently on Gekko (2020). He is co-author of the recent Ludion publication Shin Hanga: The New Prints of Japan 1900–1960 (2022).

Josephine Smit is a scholar and lecturer who obtained her master's degree in Japanese Studies from Leiden University, The Netherlands. Specialising in Japanese politics and international relations, she wrote her master's thesis on the evolution of post-disaster mental health care responses in Japan after conducting research for a year at Kobe University, Japan. As a freelancer, Smit lectures on kimono culture. Smit is currently employed as a Japanologist at both Japan Museum SieboldHuis and Hotei Japanese Prints in Leiden doing Ukiyo-e related research and exhibition management.

Jim Dwinger is a scholar of Japanese art history with a specialization in woodblock prints. He is co-author of the recent Ludion publication Shin Hanga: The New Prints of Japan 1900–1960 (2022) and is currently involved in preparing an upcoming catalogue of prints by Utagawa Hiroshige. He is also a member of the editorial board of Andon, Journal of the Society for Japanese Art.

The samurai sword: a symbol of the spirit of old Japan, it embodies the samurai's steel discipline, unswerving devotion and peerless skill. With its creation, a feat of craftsmanship passed down by generations of artisans, the samurai sword is generally considered to be superior even to the famed blades of Western Damascus and Toledo. "The Samurai Sword Handbook" is a precise exploration of the samurai sword designed for sword collectors as well as anyone intrigued by these ancient blades. Detailing the origins and development of the samurai sword, its historical background, styles, famous schools and differences in construction, this revised edition of the classic reference outlines methods of identifying and researching the sword, as well as caring for it properly. This must-have for sword lovers is sure to be a bestseller.

About the Author:

John M. Yumoto was the foremost authority on the samurai sword outside of Japan. A native of California, he spent time in Japan studying under a number of masters from different schools and learned the art of sword polishing and of identification and evaluation.

The ukiyo-e masters are brought together in a volume that illustrates Japan’s “floating world” between the 17th and 19th centuries.

The so-called Edo period (1603–1868) was extremely productive for Japan from a historical and artistic standpoint; later its influence would extend beyond the archipelago, as far as the West, where it gave rise to a real passion for Japanese aesthetics and culture. The term ukiyo-e, which translates as “pictures of a floating world,” refers to the woodblock colour prints that were first created in the Edo period by combining the talents of painters like Utamaro, Hokusai, and Hiroshige with the absolute mastery of block carvers and printers. These prints are the highest aesthetic expression of what could be called a “culture of pleasure,” pervaded by the awareness that the beauties of life must be enjoyed to the full because they are bound to end. The book offers a chance to discover the world of Japanese ukiyo-e prints through over 300 works by some of the most important artists, and the themes that characterize them: from elegant female beauties to delicate flowers and birds, famous kabuki actors, valiant samurai, and even erotic subjects with their insouciant celebration of love.

About the Authors:

Francesco Paolo Campione, author and curator, teaches Cultural Anthropology at the University of Insubria (Como) and is Director of the Museo delle Culture in Lugano.
Marco Fagioli, art historian and critic, has edited many books and essays on Chinese and Japanese painting, shunga and Postimpressionist artists.
Moira Luraschi, anthropologist, is curator of the Oriental collections of the Museo delle Culture in Lugano, for which she has edited several publications on Japanese art.

Mount Fuji has been a source of inspiration and awe since ancient times, and artists have been reproducing its likeness since at least the 14th century, as it became a key motif in all aspects of Japanese culture.

The 19th-century Ukiyo-e woodblock prints of important artists such as Hokusai and Hiroshige continued this reverence, creating series of beautiful images of landscape and society, with the mountain ever-present. With the slight relaxing of Japan's isolationist policies, artists discovered Western art and exploited its styles and perspectives, and, in turn, Western artists from Monet to Van Gogh were influenced by the bold and distinctive print style, which filtered into their work. This gorgeous new book discusses the fascinating history of Fuji as featured in these prints, and reproduces numerous examples of the stunning and timeless artworks, some in their complete series.

A major career survey of Yayoi Kusama, one of the most widely admired and popular artists of our time, published in collaboration with M+, Hong Kong, to accompany M+’s first Special Exhibition, Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now, from 12 November 2022 to 14 May 2023.

Yayoi Kusama is that rare thing: an artist who has achieved truly global acclaim. In a wide-ranging career spanning seven decades and multiple media, she has established profound connections with audiences around the world. Emerging at the forefront of artistic experimentation in Asia in the mid-20th century, Kusama soon became a central figure in the New York art scene of the 1960s. Today, Kusama continues to communicate her highly personal and spiritual world view through her art.

Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now is the most comprehensive survey of her work to date. Structured around six thematic sections, ‘Infinity’, ‘Accumulation’, ‘The Biocosmic’, ‘Radical Connectivity’, ‘Death’ and ‘Force of Life’, the volume elucidates the aesthetic and philosophical concerns at the heart of the artist’s oeuvre.

In addition to a selection of Kusama’s writings, some of which have never been published before, the book features correspondence with Georgia O’Keeffe, an interview with critic and curator Yoshie Yoshida, and a roundtable discussion among leading authorities in the field. Also included are curatorial essays exploring different aspects of Kusama’s practice, and a detailed visual chronology of her life. Appealing not only to those already familiar with Kusama and her work, but also to anyone discovering it for the first time, this monograph reveals an artist who, while shaped by international artistic currents, remains deeply connected to the traditions and culture of her native Japan.

About the Author:

Doryun Chong is Deputy Director, Curatorial, and Chief Curator at M+, Hong Kong. Mika Yoshitake is an independent curator specializing in post-war Japanese art.

A retrospective of Yayoi Kusama, Japan's most prominent artist and 'Queen of the Polka Dots'

Avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama’s matchless creativity and originality have been captivating the world since she moved from Matsumoto, her hometown in Nagano, Japan, to the USA in 1958. In the last ten years alone, her retrospective exhibitions in four major European and American museums, including Tate Modern, London, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, have seen record attendance.

Kusama has continuously innovated and re-invented her style. Well-known for her repeating dot patterns, her art encompasses an astonishing variety of media, including painting, drawing, sculpture, film, performance and immersive installation. It ranges from works on paper featuring intense semi-abstract imagery, to soft sculpture known as ‘Accumulations’, to her ‘Infinity Net’ paintings, made up of carefully repeated arcs of paint built up into large patterns. This comprehensive publication, originally published to accompany a sell-out exhibition at Matsumoto City Museum of Art, offers a comprehensive overview of Kusama’s entire career, including works from her youth, when she indulged in drawing in order to escape from her hallucinations; paintings made when she was based in New York, including ‘Infinity Nets’ and ‘Polka Dots’; works from the 1980s and 1990s, when she participated in the Venice Biennale; and last but not least, the ongoing large-scale series ‘My Eternal Soul’. The plates are in chronological order and followed by detailed captions.

About the Authors:

Yayoi Kusama (born 22 March 1929) is a Japanese contemporary artist who works primarily in sculpture and installation but is also active in painting, performance, film, fashion, poetry, fiction, and other arts. Her work is based in conceptual art and shows some attributes of feminism, minimalism, surrealism, Art Brut, pop art, and abstract expressionism, and is infused with autobiographical, psychological, and sexual content.
Akira Shibutami is a curator at the Matsumoto City Museum of Art.

In celebration of one of Kusama’s most iconic infinity rooms

A tribute to Yayoi Kusama, the world’s most popular artist, according to The Art Newspaper and The Guardian.

Yayoi Kusama is one of Japan’s most important and famous artists, beloved across multiple generations and different audiences, capable of wonder and amazement. Infinito presente is a tribute to her original and unique art, focusing on Fireflies on the Water one of her most iconic Infinity Mirror Rooms from the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Fireflies on the Water is a room-sized installation where, as the title suggests, the lights seem almost natural, like fireflies on a quiet summer’s night. The pool of water creates an incredible sense of stillness and the mirrors reflect never-ending images of themselves, creating a sidereal ambience. Space appears infinite, without top or bottom, beginning or end. As in Yayoi Kusama’s early installations, including her Infinity Mirror Room (1965), Fireflies on the Water embodies an almost hallucinatory approach to reality. Although linked to the artist’s personal mythology and the process of therapeutic work, this work also references sources as diverse as the myth of Narcissus and Kusama’s native Japanese landscape.

About the Author:

Stefano Raimondi, contemporary art curator, is director of network The Blank Contemporary Art, Italy’s leading network dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of contemporary art and the territory in which it is embedded.

Rising star Charles Fréger brings his inimitable eye to unfamiliar Japanese folk rituals

In rural Japan the passage of the year is marked by festivals and rituals that have changed little for centuries. Elaborate outfits, crafted from textiles as well as branches, straw and elements sourced from the natural environment, are donned in agricultural and fishing communities throughout Japan to celebrate seasonal rites of fertility and abundance.

Yokainoshima (literally ‘island of monsters’) explores the extraordinary range of masks, costumes and characters that reappear with each returning season. Charles Fréger’s photographs combine acute documentary attentiveness with individual portraiture in an entirely fresh and distinctive style.

Toshiharu Ito and Akihiro Hatanaka, both specialists in Japanese folk culture and anthropology, analyse Fréger’s photographs, setting the huge variety of eclectic clothing in ethnographic context and describing the local festivals, dances and rituals. A final illustrated reference section describes individual costumes and masks.

About the Author:

Charles Fréger is a photographer based in Rouen, France. Internationally acclaimed for his subtle and poetic portraiture, he has devoted himself to the representation of social groups. Previous books include Wilder Mann and Portraits in Lace.

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) was the last great woodblock print master of the Ukiyo-e tradition. With his distinctive style of dramatic lines and use of gorgeous colours, Yoshitoshi was soon recognised by his contemporaries as the most outstanding woodblock artist of his time. One Hundred Aspects of the Moon is regarded as his greatest achievement. The series brings to life the history and mythology of ancient Japan. In all 100 prints the moon figures prominently, either clearly visible in the design itself, or else referred to in the beautiful poem in the text cartouche. The subjects of the prints range from historical figures such as the novelist and court lady Murasaki Shikibu from the Heian period (794-1185) and samurai warlords like Takeda Shingen (1521-1573) to mythological creatures and scenes related to the Japanese theatre forms kabuki, no and kyogen. The series not only strongly refers to Japanese literature and culture, it also includes many references to the literary traditions of China, which were of major influence on the cultural developments of classical Japan.

About the Editor:

Bas Verberk, a Japan curator of the Museum of East Asian Art in Cologne, offers clear descriptions with new insights and knowledge about this popular series, now first presented in a non-Japanese publication.

Paying tribute to a century of one of the world’s most popular and enduring genres, 100 Years of Anime follows the beloved medium from its earliest beginnings to its current blockbuster success. Learn all about the technological inventions and artistic genius that shaped the genre in this authoritative account of anime, illustrated with stunning full-color stills. Revisit much-loved series, including Dragon Ball, Akira, Cowboy Bebop, Pokémon, and Studio Ghibli films — and discover new favorites — in this complete guide!

_Pore over full-color stills that showcase how changing technology, culture, and artistic innovation have influenced and enhanced the narrative themes and aesthetics of the genre.
_This book features popular anime titles including Dragon Ball, Akira, Pokémon, Cowboy Bebop, and Studio Ghibli films, as well as more niche works that helped define the genre.
_Celebrating a century of success, this title covers the earliest days of the genre to contemporary examples and explores all the evolutionary steps in between.

About the Authors:

Matthieu Pinon is a former maths and physics teacher who has been writing about Japanese pop culture in magazines since 1998. He is the co-author of A History of Modern Manga, published by Insight in 2023. He enjoys presenting facets of Japanese life to the wider world to help others understand the customs of a country they may be unfamiliar with.

Philippe Bunel is credited as a contributor to a book about the Studio Ghibli founder, Hayao Miyazaki, Shades of a Work.

A History of the Samurai tells the complete story of Japan's legendary warrior class from beginning to end — an epic tale of intrigue, bloodshed and bravery that is central to an understanding of the Japanese character and of Japanese history. It describes in detail the core Samurai philosophy of Bushido —"the way of the warrior"— a complex code of conduct embracing ideals of honor and loyalty that continues to govern the Japanese way of life today.

Historian Jonathan Lopez-Vera offers a compelling look at these enigmatic warriors including:

- The lives of famous Samurai—Miyamoto Musashi, Japan's greatest swordsman; Tomoe Gozen, the woman who became a Samurai; Tokugawa Ieyasu, the last Shogun; and many more
- The tragic tale of the 47 Ronin who chose honor over their own lives and were forced to commit ritual suicide after avenging their fallen master
- The philosophy of Bushido, "the Way of the Warrior," the code of conduct that embraced the ideals of honor and loyalty and governed the Samurai way of living
- The decline of the Samurai and their transformation from rough, battle-hardened warriors to highly educated philosopher-poets

Illustrated with 125 archival prints and photos, the nobility and grandeur of the Samurai is brilliantly showcased in this book. Readers will enjoy immersing themselves in the Samurai's world, as historian Jonathan Lopez-Vera traces the fascinating story of the rise and fall of these enigmatic warriors throughout Japanese history.

About the Author:

Jonathan Lopez-Vera has a PhD in Japanese History and an MA in World History from Pompeu Fabra University (Spain). He is a member of the Ethnographies, Cultural Encounters and Religious Missions (ECERM) research group and Research Group on Empires, Metropolis and Extra-European Societies (GRIMSE). He also runs the HistoriaJaponesa.com website and is co-editor of the journal Asiademica.

Russell Calvert has a masters degree in translation studies from Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona). He has 25 years TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) experience, including posts at ESADE Business School (Barcelona) and Salalah College of Applied Sciences (Oman). He was the subtitler, translator and interpreter for the 2012 Mecal International Short Film Festival of Barcelona.

The definitive catalogue of an unparalleled collection of Indian jewelry and luxury objects made at the height of the Mughal empire and the Deccan sultanates.

This is the definitive catalogue of an unparalleled collection of Indian jewelry and jewelled luxury objects made at the height of the Mughal empire and Deccan sultanates in the 16th and 17th centuries. The collection, widely regarded as one of the finest in the world, was assembled by Sheikh Nasser and Sheikha Hussa al-Sabah for The al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait, and reveals the beauty, sophistication and diversity of Indian jewelled arts.

The Indian subcontinent is naturally rich in gems. From ancient times master jewellers developed a wide array of unique techniques and made it home to the most sophisticated jewels on earth. Exotic birds and animals, flowers, trees and mythological scenes rendered in precious gemstones, gold and enamel demonstrate these artists’ prodigious imagination and skill. They produced not only an unmatched range of jewelry to adorn the body but also ritual and household items of astonishing refinement and luxury, as well as extravagantly large engraved gemstones to serve as symbols of their princely patrons’ royal power – including a spinel of nearly 250 carats believed to be the legendary Timur Ruby.

This volume includes not only the finest and most valuable pieces in the collection – some familiar to connoisseurs, others published here for the first time – but also many previously unknown types that extend our understanding of artistic output in the region. With specially commissioned photography giving unprecedented new views of more than 300 jewelled objects, this is a publication of historic importance and beauty, for all lovers of jewelry, the arts of India and of the Islamic world.

About the Author:

Salam Kaoukji is curator and collection manager of The al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait, and an editor of Thames & Hudson’s long-running and acclaimed series of catalogues. Her previous books include Precious Indian Weapons and other Princely Accoutrements (2017) and Treasury of the World: Jewelled Arts of India in the Age of the Mughals (with Manuel Keene, 2001).