The Japanese Print: A Historical Guide

Rating:
Summary: Shocking
Review: I was shocked upon opening this book to find that the one example provided of a "shunga" print (p. 88) had been censored. In discussing Utamaro's prints, the text reads, "...a large part of his work is devoted to this type of subject matter, and it has often been said, with some justice, that he is probably the greatest master of this genre in the entire history of the Japanese print (Plate 36)" Plate 36 then has a large black bar running across the print from left to right, blocking out about 25%, and leaving heads and feet. The caption reads, "Lovers. Shunga, shown here partially masked. About 1790. Ronin Gallery, New York." I find it difficult to trust the judgement of someone who advocates studying an art form "partially masked". If someone is not able to honestly address these prints, s/he may avoid them, but I can`t recommend a critic who feels that s/he has the right to deface them.

Rating:
Summary: Decent Overview of the Medium
Review: Yes, there is the one censored plate, and the author is prudish throughout about shunga prints in general. However, anyone who is purchasing this book for the illustrations will be severely disappointed. There are some color plates in the middle of the work, but the vast majority of plates are reproduced in black in white. This is not a coffee table work with large, full-color illustrations. Nor is it a scholarly treatise on Japanese woodblock prints or a critical appraisal of why certain artists are held in higher regard than others. What it attempts to do is provide a brief overview for the general reader of the careers of the major artists and a historical guide detailing the development of the medium, and within the scope of its modest ambitions it actually works fairly well as an introduction to Japanese woodblock printing.

As stated, this is not for the specialist or the serious collector. The historical details are very general, and it is difficult, based only on this book, to differentiate between the stylistic differences between the various schools. Likewise, the critical evaluations are generally rather vague, and though the book attempts to describe the artists as major and minor, it often does little more than repeat the general wisdom without clearly explaining why an artist is held in such high or low esteem. As far as coverage, the work slants heavily toward 18th century artists and prints, which is a perfectly acceptable bias, but a new collector might be disappointed to find that many of the artists and prints discussed in length are actually generally unobtainable in good condition for those who are not either affiliated with museums or super wealthy. A more serious quibble with the work is that some of the prints (not the majority however) chosen to illustrate examples of the various artists' work are rather idiosyncratically chosen and not terribly representative.

Overall, this isn't a bad place to start for the beginner. There are much better introductions to the medium, but few at this price. The plates, though the majority are in black and white, are easy to see, and the reader gets a fairly serviceable historical overview. One caution however: though the paper is thick, glossy, and generally high quality, the binding is a little flimsy. If you are hard on books, this might not be the one for you.