Book reviews from zaborav

Hokusai: Paintings,Drawings and Woodcuts

by Hillier,J

This is the most beautifully produced volume; quality of the colour plates, attached to, not printed ON the page, is quite stunning.There are over 115 chronological b/w illustrations of all Hokusai's styles and methods. Whilst not completist, it remains the definitive British coverage of this most engaging of 18th/19th century Japanese artists, probably responsible more than any other for the appreciation of the Japanese art of the time.For those unfamiliar with the subject, or even with Japanese artistic style, Hillier compiled a volume which can not fail to touch the soul of the reader. The prose of the chapters may be a little stilted by modern standards, but Hillier does not treat the reader as an inferior as some notable art critics of today are wont to do, but shows his genuine love of his subject matter and manages to pass some of this onto the reader.It is not known quite how many books Hokusai illustrated in his long lifetime; he was one of the first notable artists of the Ukiyo-ye school, one of the first non-aristocratic men to become a Master, and this fact alone explains a lot of his importance in Japanese Art History.The shining glory of the colour plates makes this 1955 First Edition remarkable - one of the truly great editions of the art of Japan of the period published in the 20th Century.In my opinion, it is better to have a 1st Edition whose colours have been perfectly preserved than any of the reprints of the 1970s, which do not seem to have aged so well.A book for the newcomer as well as the purist, I recommend Hillier's book unreservedly.