The Art of Japanese Craft

From Japans first forays onto the international stage of worlds fairs in the late 19th century to the dynamic creativity of the 1920 and 1930s, from the heady postWorld War II period to the present day, Japanese crafts have exhibited a rich diversity of media and techniques. One of the first illustrated surveys in English of modern-era Japanese craftsincluding ceramics, lacquerware, metalcraft, and woodthis elegant book, with 70 color illustrations, is an invaluable guide for the collector and scholar. Focusing on an important collection of Japanese crafts destined for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the text discusses the artists and ideas that shaped and defined the aesthetic of 20th-century Japan, noting that this nationwhich so deeply appreciates and fosters its crafts traditionshails its artists as living national treasures. The book also includes artists biographies and reproductions of their signatures and marks. Published in association with the Philadelphia Museum of Art Exhibition Schedule: Philadelphia Museum of Art (December 6, 2008 fall 2009)