Color woodcut printmaking was not new to Britain, America, or Japan in the late eighteenth century. Yet after Japan was opened to the West in 1854 and deeper cultural exchange began, Japanese prints captured the European and American imagination. The fresh colors, simplicity of materials, and departure from traditional compositions entranced western artists and the public alike. Likewise, Japanese audiences and artists were intrigued by the styles and techniques of western art, which was broadly available in Japan by the end of the nineteenth century. Artists there created images of the strange foreigners and imagined what American cities looked like. By the beginning of the twentieth century, artists were not content to merely imagine what the other side of the world looked like. As prints traveled around the globe for study so did artists, and with them spread the tricks and techniques of color woodblock printmaking as well as appreciation for the prints. Woodblock printmakers in the West started to investigate Japanese processes, and Japanese publishers began to seriously seek out the print market outside of Japan. Important themes began to emerge; scenes of nature and old-fashioned architecture outnumbered modern city views, and images of animals were nearly as popular as those of human figures. Imagery was often idyllic and beautiful, attractive to an international audience. Twentieth-century art, however, moves at a furious pace, and the ferment of the international woodcut style quickly ran its course. Artists appropriated what they needed from the color woodcut, then developed techniques, subjects, and styles in their own ways. An ever-expanding range of prints became indebted to the artists of the previous generation who had reinvigorated woodblock printmaking styles and practices around the world. This full-color catalogue includes many prints from this colorful exhibition and shows how the progression of styles became more similar as international artists learned from and competed with each other, then stylistically diverged as artists of each country took what they learned in new directions. The three essays each focus on the influences and contributions made to the international style by three countries: Japan, Britain, and America.

This edited book considers the need for the continued dismantling of conceptual and cultural hegemonies of ‘East’ and ‘West’ in the humanities and social sciences. Cutting across a wide range of literature, film and art from different contexts and ages, this collection seeks out the interpenetrating dynamic between both terms. Highlighting the inherent instability of East and West as oppositional categories, it focuses on the ‘crossings’ between East and West and this nexus as a highly-charged arena of encounter and collision. Drawing from varied literary contexts ranging from Victorian literature to Chinese literature and modern European literature, the book covers a diverse range of subject matter, including material drawn from psychoanalytic and postcolonial theory and studies related to race, religion, diaspora, and gender, and investigates topical social and political issues —including terrorism, nationalism, citizenship, the refugee crisis, xenophobia and otherness. Offering a framework to consider the salient questions of cultural, ideological and geographical change in our societies, this book is a key read for those working within world literary studies.

The first comprehensive history of late medieval printmaking, which transformed image production and led to profound changes in Western culture

Discover the innovative and prolific works of John Baptist Jackson, an eighteenth-century British artist and woodcut printmaker who lived and worked in Paris and Venice. This biography explores his unconventional techniques, including his use of overprinting and heavy embossing to create stunning polychrome prints and highlight areas of his compositions. Jackson's use of new, oil-based inks and a rolling press of his own construction set him apart from other printmakers of his time. His prints after oil paintings showcased his ambition and talent within the medium.

"[An] impressive volume, with a valuable amount of information not otherwise available in one source." --Choice Companion volume to Merritt's Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints. This volume is a reference work that is both comprehensive and rigorously chronological.

“This nostalgic volume of Christmas stories, poems, carols, recipes, and memorabilia celebrates the holiday’s most deeply held traditions.” —Publishers Weekly It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and this richly illustrated treasury celebrates everything there is to love about the holiday season! It’s filled with favorite Christmas stories, such as “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” and “Little Women, A Merry Christmas,” and songs as well as original poems from Lee Bennett Hopkins, Naomi Shihab Nye, and others; original recipes from Erin Gleeson, Yvette van Boven, and Yotam Ottolenghi; and other holiday trappings. All the artwork is from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection, ranging from religious paintings depicting the Nativity, to 20th-century illustrations showing Santa Claus, to wintry scenes of snowy landscapes and ice skaters. With beautiful art and joyful text, this is a wonderful book for the entire family to share. “An ideal single source book of traditional Christmas songs and stories, illustrated with attractive imagery from artists celebrating the holiday across the centuries. It also includes new poems commissioned for the book and holiday recipes created by the chefs from the restaurant at The Met.” —borg