The Dawn of the Floating World, 1650-1765 : Early Ukiyo-E Treasures from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Royal Academy of Arts, London, first edition, 2001. Laminated wrappers, 4to, 30 cm,. 336 pp, many ills (many in colour). Catalogue of the exhibition held at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 24 November 2001-17 February 2002. From the President's Foreword: "The Dawn of the Floating World' reveals a little-known period of Japanese art. Focusing on the origins of ukiyo-e, it explores its development, from powerful schematic images to full-colour woodblock printing, and describes the rise of a culture concerned with image and style during a fascinating period in the evolution of Edo society. Emblematic of the daily life and literature of the pleasure quarters and entertainment districts of Edo, early ukiyo-e set in motion a wave of image-making that was to shape print production until the end of the Edo period. Painted and printed designs have an intensity that sets them apart from those of later artists of the floating world, such as Utamaro, Hokusai and Hiroshige, and distinguishes them as one of the most accomplished forms of Japanese graphic expression… The present exhibition recognises that paintings as well as prints and illustrated books are inherently important to any consideration of the development of ukiyo-e. Many of the qualities that we admire in the prints of pioneer, yet little-known, artists, such as Hishikawa Moronobu and Okumura Masanobu, as well as the masters of the Kaigetsudö and Torii schools, represent splendid moments in the history of early ukiyo-e. The paintings and prints are extremely rare. Many of the prints are known only in unique impressions of great fragility and have never been seen in public before. Gift inscription on the title-page, otherwise near Fine.