Designed for Pleasure: The World of Edo Japan in Prints and Paintings, 1680-1860

Asia Society, New York and Japansese Art Society of America, 2008 Book. Very Good. Soft cover. English text.; Paperback. 24.5 x 30.5 cm; 1.5 Kg; 256 pages with colour illustrations.; Used with minor signs of wear. Interior in very good condition.; Catalogue from the exhibition held at the Asia Society and Museum, New York from February 27 to May 4, 2008.; "The exceptional paintings, prints and illustrated books in the present exhibition - all drawn from the collections of members and supporters of the Japanese Art Society of America - give viewers the opportunity to experience and appreciate the breadth of the ukiyo-e tradition in a new light. The exhibition and catalogue explore the intertwined worlds of art, popular culture, commerce and society of Edo Japan in a focused examination by a team of renowned experts." excerpt from the preface by Vishahka N. Desai, President of the Asia Society.; "This exhibition brings together approximately one hundred fifty paintings, woodblock prints and illustrated books, with images known as ukiyo-e, or pictures of the floating world - The floating world was a new leisure industry of popular entertainment centered in the shogunal capital of Edo (modern Tokyo). The carefully selected images in the exhibition not only present the principals of that realm - the actor, the artist, the courtesan, the poet, the publisher, the patron - they also examine the confluences and contradictions in a time of enourmous social, cultural and economic change in Japan. The exhibtion and catalogue focus on individuals - adding to the already substantial scholarship on Hokusai, Hiroshige and Utamaro - including the father of ukiyo-e, Hishikawa Moronobu, the artist and publisher Okumura Masanobu, the color innovator Susuki Harunobo, the master publisher Tsutaya Juzaburo and the briliant painter Katsukawa Shunsho." excerpt by the foreword by Melissa Chiu, Director of the Asia Society..