{"product_id":"japanese-woodblock-prints-1","title":"Japanese Woodblock Prints","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom Édouard Manet’s portrait of the writer Émile Zola surrounded by his collection of Japanese artworks to Vincent van Gogh’s carefully assembled prints by Hiroshige, the pioneers of European modernism in the nineteenth century made no secret of their fascination with Japanese art. In all its vivid sensuality and expressive freedom, the phenomenon of Japonisme has often been attributed solely to the woodblock print, which first captivated France and later spread throughout Europe as a source of inspiration for Western artists — though frequently misunderstood as merely “exotic” artifacts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn reality, the Japanese woodblock print represents a phenomenon without true equivalent in Western art. Some of the defining ideas associated with modernity — including Karl Marx’s famous observation that “all that is solid melts into air” — had already emerged in seventeenth-century Japan and found visual expression in the early nineteenth century through masters such as Hokusai, Utamaro, and Hiroshige.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis volume lifts the veil on this widely admired yet often misunderstood art form by presenting 200 of the most extraordinary Japanese woodblock prints within their historical context. The works gathered here trace the development of the medium from its origins through the flourishing of \u003cem\u003eukiyo-e\u003c\/em\u003e — the “pictures of the floating world” — in the seventeenth century, to the decline and later revival of printmaking in the early twentieth century. Alongside a singular chapter in art history, the book also documents shifting social customs and the broader cultural evolution of Japan itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom mystical mountains and snow-covered mountain passes to samurai warriors and sex workers displayed in storefront windows, the volume explores each print as an individual work of art while uncovering the stories and lives behind the imagery. Readers encounter the four great pillars of woodblock printing — beauties, actors, landscapes, and bird-and-flower compositions — alongside depictions of sumo wrestlers, Kabuki performers, and elite courtesans, the popular celebrities who inhabited the “floating world” and fueled the explosive demand for prints. The book also ventures into darker realms populated by demons, ghosts, and cannibalistic creatures whose influence continues to shape Japanese manga, cinema, and video games today. Throughout, it reveals how technical mastery and the extraordinary vision of artists unified subjects as varied as daily life, eroticism, martial arts, and mythology, while publishers and printmakers used ingenuity and subtle humor to evade state censorship.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePresented across two volumes in traditional Japanese binding, the collection brings together works by 89 of the medium’s most important artists, assembled from museums and private collections around the world. Foldout pages invite close study of even the finest details, while extensive commentary guides readers through this dynamic period in the history of Japanese art.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"0\" data-end=\"76\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-start=\"0\" data-end=\"11\"\u003eDETAILS\u003c\/strong\u003e • Author: Andreas Marks • Publisher: Taschen • Format: Hardcover\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cedar Leaf Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45551604793388,"sku":"9783754400661","price":150.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0697\/2234\/1420\/files\/9783754400661.jpg?v=1779143242","url":"https:\/\/cedarleafbooks.com\/products\/japanese-woodblock-prints-1","provider":"Cedar Leaf Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}