Accompanies an exhibition of the same name held at the Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts, February 14-July 26, 2020.

Designed for Pleasure is a dazzling probe of Japan's famous "floating world" of spectacle and entertainment. From luxury paintings of the pleasure qurters to Hokusai's iconic "Red Fugi," Designed for Pleasure presents a focused examinatin of the priod's fascinating networks of art, literature, and fashion, proving that the artists and the publishers and patrons who engaged them not only morrored the tastes of their energetic times, they created a unifying cultural legacy. Contributors include John T. Carpenter, Timothy Clark, Julie Nelson Davis, Allen Hockley, Donald Jenkins, David Pollack, Sarah E. Thompson, and David Boyer Waterhouse.

The Edo period saw the growth of an urban culture of extraordinary richness, sophistication and cultural diversity, and an unprecendented flowering of the arts, in painting, woodblock prints, ceramics, laquer and textiles. This text offers an overview of the arts of the Edo period as they developed in Kyoto, Edo, Osaka and Nagasaki, illustrated with the work of artists such as Korin, Utamaro and Hokusai, as well as with lesser-known artists of the time.

A captivating work of cultural blending unlike anything created prior, Andrew Archer's Edo Ball must be seen to be believed. This series of paintings seamlessly fuses contemporary basketball imagery with Edo-period Japanese art and culture, with captivating results. Often front and centre, an NBA personality is dramatically reimagined and yet recognizable, surrounded by the myriad trappings of the 'floating' world. Brief accompanying texts describe the thematic connections between each painting's converging themes and explore the roles that culture, community, celebrity, and games play in our daily lives.

The sophistication and variety of painting in Japan's Edo period, as seen through a preeminent US collection Over more than four decades, Robert and Betsy Feinberg have assembled the finest private collection of Edo-period Japanese painting in the United States. The collection is notable for its size, its remarkable quality, and its comprehensiveness. It represents virtually every stylistic lineage of the Edo-period (1615-1868)--from the gorgeous decorative works of the Rinpa school to the luminous clarity of the Maruyama-Shijō school, from the "pictures of the floating world" (ukiyo-e) to the inky innovations of the so-called eccentrics--in addition to sculpture from the medieval and early modern periods. Hanging scrolls, folding screens, handscrolls, albums, and fan paintings: the objects are as breathtaking as they are varied. This catalogue's 12 contributors, including established names in the field alongside emerging voices, use the latest scholarship to offer sensitive close readings that bring these remarkable works to life. Distributed for the Harvard Art Museums

Shows and describes Edo-period art, including screens, armor, woodblock prints, pottery, and kimonos

This title is an introduction to the important artists of the Edo period Japan and their work, as well as the issues and concepts surrounding the production and consumption of art in Japan at that time

This book explores the playfulness reflected in the artwork of two prominent Japanese Zen monk-painters: Hakuin Ekaku (1685-1768) and Sengai Gibon (1750-1837). Aviman elaborates on the nature of this particular artistic expression and identifies its sources, focusing on the lives of the monk-painters and their artwork. The author combines a holistic analysis of the paintings, i.e. as interrelated combination of text and image, with a contextualization of the works within their specific environments.

A fascinating book on the elegant paintings of birds and flowers in Edo-Rinpa painting The Rinpa school is one of the historical schools in Japanese painting established in 17th century Kyoto. Later in 19th century Edo (old Tokyo), Hoitsu Sakai, who worshiped and was influenced by Korin Ogata, revived this genre with his elegant, poetic and refined taste. This book showcases not only the most popular works of the Edo-Rinpa style but also features unique and innovative works from Kiitsu Suzuki, Hoitsu Sakai's own disciple, and shows how Rinpa style has been passed on to the modern painters such as Shunso Hishida and Sekka Kamisaka. Written by Momo Miyazaki, a specialist in Edo period painting and the curator of The Museum Yamato Bunkakan, this book will be an informative must have treasury book for Japanese art lovers, creators, and artists.--Momo Miyazaki

This profusely illustrated volume presents groundbreaking scholarship on the Ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) and his immediate artistic and literary circles. Achieving worldwide renown for his dramatic landscape print series, such as the "Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji," Hokusai also excelled in book illustrations, erotica, and privately commissioned woodcuts called "surimono." Aspects of the artist's innovative and novel approach to the graphic arts are discussed in the first half of this volume. Less well known, Hokusai was a highly accomplished painter who oversaw a studio of several close pupils, including his daughter Ti, who often worked in a style closely resembling his own. The study of Hokusai's corpus of paintings thus raises many complex issues of authorship, dating and authenticity -- further complicated by the abundant production of forgeries both during and after his lifetime. An appendix of recognized Hokuzai seals helps further clarify this aspect of the artist's work. The distinguished roster of contributors includes: Asano Shugo, Gian Carlo Calza, John T. Carpenter, Timothy T. Clark, Doris Croissant, Kobayashi Tadashi, Kubota Kazuhiro Roger Keyes, Matsudaira Susumu, Matthi Forrer, Naito Masato, David Pollack, John M. Rosenfield, Timon Screech, Segi Shin'ichi, Henry D. Smith II, and Tsuji Nobuo. The publication is sponsored by the International Hokusai Research Centre at the University of Venice and the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures (SISJAC), London and Norwich.