Sandy Kita

Carnegie Museum of Art

Japanese Prints from the Carnegie Museum of Art

A Hidden Treasure

The stunningly beautiful and richly colored Japanese wood-block prints that represent the art form of Ukiyo-e first flourished in seventeenth century Edo (now Tokyo) and continue to captivate international audiences today. The art of Ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world") is newly examined in this elegant book, which showcases a never-before-published treasure trove of Japanese prints, drawings, and books from the collection of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The 160 compelling color images illustrated here-known masterpieces, very unusual prints and original sketches, and newly discovered masterworks-depict an incredible diversity of subjects, ranging from theatrical scenes and landscapes to portraits of actors, courtesans, and beautiful women. Works by great masters such as Hokusai, Hiroshige, and Kunisada are seen, including rare prints from Hokusai's series A Hundred Ghost Stories and images from a water- color album by Hiroshige as well as prints from some of his most famous series, including One Hundred Views of Edo. Also illustrated are nineteenth-century, Yokohama prints, examples of Western Japonisme by artists such as Mary Cassatt and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and works by modern Japanese masters. Chosen for their significance and rarity, the books and prints in The Floating World Ukiyo-e are also visually striking and fresh in color, due in part to the fact that this collection has never before been exhibited and has rarely been handled. The text conveys new scholarship about the art form of Ukiyo-e, in essays by several eminent scholars and an unusually comprehensive bibliography.

Shadows, Dreams and Substance

Floating World of Ukiyo-E

Iwasa Katsumochi Matabei (1578-1650) is one of the most controversial figures in Japanese art history. For more than half a century, historians have argued over Matabei's role in Japanese art: Was he, as he asserted, "The Last Tosa" (the school of painters who specialized in Yamato-e, a kind of classical courtly painting) or, as others characterized him, "The Founder of Ukiyo-e," the style of painting associated with the urban commoner class. In this highly original and convincing study, Matabei emerges as both - an artist in whose work can be seen elements of both Yamato-e and Ukiyo-e. Extending its analysis beyond the individual artist, The Last Tosa examines the trends and artistic developments of a transitional period and makes heretofore unexamined connections between the world of the aristocrat and the merchant as well as the two artistic schools that reflected their tastes.

Iwasa Katsumochi Matabei, Bridge to Ukiyo-e

The Last Tosa

Library of Congress

Katherine L. Blood

James Douglas Farquhar

Lawrence E. Marceau

Filled with brillient colors and breathtakingly beautiful scenes from seventeenth-century Japan, this celebration of the the great Japanese art of woodblock prints introduces readers to the "floating world" of medieval Japan.

Iwasa Katsumochi Matabei (1578-1650) is one of the most controversial figures in Japanese art history. For more than half a century, historians have argued over Matabei's role in Japanese art: Was he, as he asserted, "The Last Tosa" (the school of painters who specialized in Yamato-e, a kind of classical courtly painting) or, as others characterized him, "The Founder of Ukiyo-e," the style of painting associated with the urban commoner class. In this highly original and convincing study, Matabei emerges as both--an artist in whose work can be seen elements of both Yamato-e and Ukiyo-e. Extending its analysis beyond the individual artist, The Last Tosa examines the trends and artistic developments of a transitional period and makes heretofore unexamined connections between the world of the aristocrat and the merchant as well as the two artistic schools that reflected their tastes. It addresses these larger issues by identifying Matabei as a member of a social group known as machishu. Excerpts from noblemen's diaries, an investigation of the etymology of machishu, and an analysis of art by its members, indicate that machishu included both commoners and gentry, thus revealing a rich tradition of egalitarianism--an important departure from the conventionally held belief that seventeenth-century Japan's urban society was rigidly stratified. The Last Tosa provides an exhaustive study of Matabei's paintings, including all his important works and key attributions. Translations of all documents available on Matabei are given, in particular his travel diary, a unique source, the only known example of such a text by a seventeeth-century classical painter. With its fusion of cultural history with political, social, and economic history, this sophisticated study will appeal to not only art historians, but also to students of history, anthropology, and culture studies interested in questions of group identity and the political uses of culture.

Sandy Kita

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