Japanese Prints: The Art Institute of Chicago

Contains a broad collection of Japanese woodblock prints spanning about 300 years, nicely divided by subject matter. Please note that the page size is only 4.5 x 4.25-in. and the average size of the prints are only 2 x 3-in. Wish it had been in a larger format. However there are 320 pages in this book.

A true pocket-size book of Japanese prints from the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, this little guy packs in a good size punch in terms of number of woodblock prints (276 in all). Only 4 "x 4 ½" in size, the color reproductions of the prints are surprisingly good. Good and bright colors and one print on each page. Yeah, they're small, but you don't need to squint, and hey, you can stuff it into your pocket easily. The book is divided into four print categories - Primitives", "Courtesans", "Actors" and "Landscapes" and contains many less-known ukiyo-e artists - Eishi, Shunsho, Buncho, and many others that you would not see in other usual publications on Japanese woodblock prints. At the end of the book, there is an index on Kabuki actors represented in the prints and one on all the prints in the book (the latter is a rather interesting one). A nice "little" book filled with some pleasant surprises.

This filled a space in our collection of art books to research our collection of prints.

Even though the dimensional size of the book is small the content exceeds its size. Packed with numerous pictures and introductory text the book serves as a good pocket guide. If one is seeking pictures for closer study, this book would not facilitate given its size.

This little book enables the viewer to get a glimpse of the Japanese print treasures available at the Art Institute of Chicago. Part of the museum's collections were published in the past in the two huge catalogues issued by the museum in the fifties and the sixties of the last century. However, nowadays these books are expensive, out of print and quite rare.The little book by Ulak constitutes some kind of a substitute to these catalogues, and in addition,in spite of the small size of its colored reproductions,it gives the viewer a wide panorama of the "floating world" (ukiyoe) masterpieces available at the AIC. Prof. Alexander Donagi