Woodblock Kuchi-e Prints: Reflections of Meiji Culture - Hardcover

Merritt, Helen; Yamada, Nanako

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0824820738 ISBN 13: 9780824820732

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press, 2000

Synopsis

Woodblock Kuchi-e Prints: Reflections of Meiji Culture is a pioneer exploration of a previously neglected genre of late-Meiji art: the type of handmade multicolor book frontispieces known as kuchi-e. Early European collectors assumed that the Japanese woodblock tradition came to an end in Western-tainted prints. Although many crudely colored prints of subjects such as steam trains and men in derby hats did flood the Japanese market, the works introduced in this amply illustrated and readable volume make clear that there was another class of popular woodblock tradition unknown to foreigners that continued into the early twentieth century. In their examination of this late flowering of the woodblock print, the authors provide not only an introduction to a popular artistic tradition but also a new lens through which to view Japanese life at the end of the nineteenth century.

About this title

About the Author:

Helen Merritt is professor emeritus of the School of Art, Northern Illinois University. She is the author of Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints.

Nanako Yamada is an associate member of the Center of East Asian Studies, University of Chicago, and a teacher of Japanese language at College of DuPage.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0824820738
• ISBN 13: 9780824820732
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 296