Exhibition of paintings, lacquerwork, ceramics, textiles, calligraphy, and other media all in the Rinpa style from 1600 to the present day.

Japan's Meiji era was a time of dramatic cultural change. Industry, the military, transportation, fashion, architecture, the arts - all aspects of Meiji society embraced modernisation. Kamisaka Sekka (1866-1942) flourished during this vibrant period. Deeply rooted in tradition - he led the revival of Rinpa, a style created in the 17th century - Sekka was a progenitor of modern design in Japan, creating imaginative, innovative imagery. He cooperated with other artisans to apply his designs to ceramics, lacquerware, and textiles, and so became an influential transitional figure. In addition to his work as a designer, Sekka produced several suites of prints, published as multivolume books. When he transformed his paintings into woodcuts for reproduction, he revised his style to suit the medium. The resulting graphics are imbued with his signature elegant and delicate touch and reflect the artist's melding of Western and Japanese design influences. The Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture in Hanford, California, holds a magnificent collection of Kamisaka Sekka's works. Chosen for this book are the complete sets of prints from three of his best-known publications: All Kinds of Things (Chigusa), All Kinds of Butterflies (Cho- senshu) and Things from Many Worlds (Momoyogusa). More than 160 woodblock prints are collected here, with an introductory essay authored by Andreas Marks, Director and Chief Curator at the Clark Center.

This illustrated book brings to light the diverse work and growing influence of early 20th century Japanese artist and designer, Kamisaka Sekka, little known until recent years.

Exquisite full-color plates depict 216 winged beauties, soaring and drifting across the pages in apparently seamless flight. Also includes a bonus CD-ROM that features all of the royalty-free butterfly graphics, both in full "flights" and separated into individual units. Ideal for lovers of fine art and for use by graphic artists, designers, and craftworkers.

A revealing look at Japanese design weaving together the stories of people who shaped Japan’s design industries with social history, economic conditions, and geopolitics. From cars to cameras, design from Japan is ubiquitous. So are perceptions of Japanese design, from calming, carefully crafted minimalism to avant-garde catwalk fashion, or the cute, Kawaii aesthetic populating Tokyo streets. But these portrayals overlook the creativity, generosity, and sheer hard work that has gone into creating and maintaining design industries in Japan. In Designing Modern Japan, Sarah Teasley deftly weaves together the personal stories of people who shaped and shape Japan’s design industries with social history, economic conditions, and geopolitics.. Key to her account is how design has been a strategy to help communities thrive during turbulent times, and for making life better along the way. Deeply researched and superbly illustrated, Designing Modern Japan appeals to a wide audience for Japanese design, history, and culture.

What is the kimono? Everyday garment? Art object? Symbol of Japan? As this book shows, the kimono has served all of these roles, its meaning changing across time and with the perspective of the wearer or viewer. Kimono: A Modern History begins by exposing the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century foundations of the modern kimono fashion industry. It explores the crossover between ‘art’ and ‘fashion’ in this period at the hands of famous Japanese painters who worked with clothing pattern books and painted directly onto garments. With Japan’s exposure to Western fashion in the nineteenth century, and Westerners’ exposure to Japanese modes of dress and design, the kimono took on new associations and came to symbolize an exotic culture and an alluring female form. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the kimono industry was sustained through government support. The line between fashion and art became blurred as kimonos produced by famous designers were collected for their beauty and displayed in museums, rather than being worn as clothing. Today, the kimono has once again taken on new dimensions, as the Internet and social media proliferate images of the kimono as a versatile garment to be integrated into a range of individual styles. Kimono: A Modern History, the inspiration for a major exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York,not only tells the story of a distinctive garment’s ever-changing functions and image, but provides a novel perspective on Japan’s modernization and encounter with the West.