Exploring the Japanese Illustrated Book

Exploring the Japanese Illustrated Book

Dr. Ellis Tinios (Art, University of Leeds)
Thursday, May 30 / 4:15 PM
HSSB 4080

Japanese illustrated woodblock printed books produced between 1680 and 1900 represent a remarkable achievement in terms of their technical perfection, diversity, and beauty. Artists created designs exclusively for reproduction in book form and many enhanced their reputations through those publications. These books are best understood as original multi-image works of art produced in multiples. No comparable sustained tradition of commercially produced, artistically significant picture books existed in China or the West. In no other country do illustrated books attain so high a degree of significance relative to the national art as a whole. This genre, so alien to Western experience, had long been misunderstood and neglected, even by students of the arts of Japan. Dr. Ellis Tinios will introduce these books and consider the factors that have hitherto inhibited wider recognition of their significance.

Sponsored by EALCS, the Dept. of Art,the Dept. of  Art and Architecture,CCS, EAC, and the IHC.