New in the Art Library

This handsome clothbound catalog gathers Alex Katz's recent titular print portfolio. The series of 25 prints features close-up, black-and-white portraits that remove the subjects from any contextual backdrop, emphasizing instead subtle shifts in expression. Rendered in bold lineation and tightly framed, the women depicted recall the models and celebrities featured in mid-20th-century fashion imagery, underscoring Katz's ongoing fascination with perceptions of beauty and glamour that permeate the public sphere.

Volume 2 of Hotei Academic European Studies on Japan is a compilation of essays covering subjects relating to the artistic environment of the artists and the economic considerations of Japanese print production. The essays are extended versions of the lectures presented at the First International Conference on Ukiyo-e, organized by Hotei Publishing. Contributions by Chris Uhlenbeck, David Waterhouse, Roger Keyes, Shigeru Oikawa, Asano Shugo, Timothy Clark, John Carpenter, Timon Screech, Matthi Forrer, Ellis Tinios and Philip Meredith.

A beautifully illustrated introduction to Japanese woodblock prints (ukiyo-e)--slipcased, with three frameable prints In Edo Japan, woodblock prints known as ukiyo-e ("pictures of the Floating World") captured the entertainment culture of the urban elite and eventually many other subjects as well. These beautiful prints were the result of a meticulous craft process, in which an artist's initial drawing was translated by expert carvers into multiple printing blocks for different colors. In this attractive volume, Sarah E. Thompson, curator of Japanese art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, provides a highly readable overview of the cultural and artistic history of ukiyo-e, showcasing 120 exceptional prints from the museum's world-class collection, by masters including Utamaro, Hokusai, and Hiroshige.

The first book to focus exclusively on Hokusai's landscapes, by one of the world's leading ukiyo-e specialists. The best known of all Japanese artists, Katsushika Hokusai was active as a painter, book illustrator and print designer throughout his ninety-year lifespan. Yet his most famous works of all - the colour woodblock landscape prints issued in series, beginning with Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji - were produced within a relatively short time, in an amazing burst of creative energy that lasted from about 1830 to 1836.

A courtesan's day in the carefree atmosphere of the famous pleasure quarter the Yoshiwara in Edo (present-day Tokyo) was carefully planned to an hourly schedule. This sequence of twelve and later twenty-four hours proved a convenient device for Japanese print artists and their publishers when devising sets of prints showing favorite beauties of the day engaged in daily activities.

This book is the first illustrated study of the life and work of J. Alphege Brewer (1881-1946), the early20th-century British artist who made his fame producing large, color etchings of European cathedrals and other historical buildings damaged or threatened during WWI.