W. G. Beasley (1919–2006)

This is a catalogue of an exhibition by the Royal Academy of Arts in London. It features the arts of the Edo Period in Japan. In the preface, the President of the Japan Foundation says that an Exhibition on this scale of Japanese Art has never been held anywhere in the world, even in Japan. So it is rather special. The exhibition includes: painting, calligraphy, wood-block prints, lacquer, ceramics, armour, sword blades, sword mounts, sculpture, netsuke and textiles. So it is very show more comprehensive. Most of the pictures are in black and white but there is a large section with coloured photos...and for the time (1981) that is probably as much as one could expect.
I did attend another exhibition of Edo art in Tokyo ...about 5 years ago and it was also a bit overwhelming in quantity (and quality). Probably a larger exhibition than this London version. I recall being a bit overwhelmed by all the screen paintings. And there is now an entire museum in Tokyo dedicated to the Edo era. But I was fascinated to notice with the current book that the cover features a style of painting (by Watanabe Shiko...1683-1755) that seems to be resurrected by some of the modern Japanese painters ( I recall a number in the Shizuoka Art Museum, for example).
There are a number of essays on the history of the Edo period and on most of the arts represented. These are scholarly works and interesting in their own right. All in all this is a nice introduction to the art of the Edo period. I give it 3.5 stars. show less

Still, I thought the book was a steal at $1, because even the basic facts of Japan’s history were unknown to me. I’d heard the term Meiji Restoration before, but I had no idea to what event it was referring. Now I know. I knew that Japan had colonized Korea, but I didn’t know when this happened. Was it immediately before World War II? Or was it something that went back as far as time? Turns out neither, but definitely closer to World War II.

(Full review at my blog)

Department of History, University of Hong Kong

Published on the occasion of The Great Japan Exhibition, Art of the Edo Period 1600-1868 exhibition at The Royal Academy of Art London 24 October 1981 - 21 February 1982