Taiga (1723–1776) and his wife, Tokuyama Gyokuran (1727–1784), were preeminent artists in eighteenth-century Japan. This landmark book—the only comprehensive survey available in English—focuses on the lives and times of these artists and accompanies the first-ever exhibition devoted to their work in the United States.
Considered by contemporaries to be an eccentric marvel, indifferent to worldly preoccupations, Taiga is best known as a pioneer of the so-called Nanga style, which emulated Chinese literati painting. He was hugely prolific and experimental, working in an impressive range of styles, techniques, compositions, and subjects to produce more than one thousand calligraphies and paintings, and many large-scale fusuma (sliding doors) and screens. While not as well known as her husband, Gyokuran was a significant artist and a well-regarded poet of Japanese verse. Taiga wrote poetry in Chinese as well as Japanese, and translated poems by both artists are featured prominently in this volume.
Awards The Art Book Award 2008, Association of Art Historians (UK)
About the Author: Felice Fischer is The Luther W. Brady Curator of Japanese Art and Curator of East Asian Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
- Author: Felice Fischer with essays by Jonathan Chaves, Sadako Ohki, and Shimatani HiroyukiIke
- Soft cover
- Publisher: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2007
- 504 pages, 12 1/5" x 9 2/5"
- 461 color and 26 black-and-white illustrations
- ISBN: 9780876331989