Frank Feltens – författare

A lush portrait introducing one of the most important Japanese artists of the Edo periodBest known for his paintings Irises and Red and White Plum Blossoms, Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716) was a highly successful artist who worked in many genres and media—including hanging scrolls, screen paintings, fan paintings, lacquer, textiles, and ceramics. Combining archival research, social history, and visual analysis, Frank Feltens situates Kōrin within the broader art culture of early modern Japan. He shows how financial pressures, client preferences, and the impulse toward personal branding in a competitive field shaped Kōrin’s approach to art-making throughout his career. Feltens also offers a keen visual reading of the artist’s work, highlighting the ways Kōrin’s artistic innovations succeeded across media, such as his introduction of painterly techniques into lacquer design and his creation of ceramics that mimicked the appearance of ink paintings. This book, the first major study of Kōrin in English, provides an intimate and thought-provoking portrait of one of Japan’s most significant artists.

STAGING THE SUPERNATURAL presents striking, eerie nineteenth-century woodblock prints from Japan that feature ghosts, demons, and other supernatural entities. The book digs into the country's rich folkloric traditions and how they were brought to life on stage, with insightful essays that explore the depiction of spirits through the centuries, the relationship between printed images and cultural imagination, and how kabuki and Noh theatre performances reflect Japan's deep connection to and shifting notions of the supernatural. The detailed art invites readers to admire the artistic quality and techniques employed to accentuate supernaturalism, including embossing, mica application, and metallic pigments. The prints offer a window into Japan's 19th-century pop culture and will appeal to fans of contemporary anime and manga, which is often influenced by these images. Equal part art and commentary, the book includes: · 40 gorgeous woodblock prints with extended text entries · Introduction from Pearl Moskowitz, who gifted many of the featured prints to the museum in 2021 · Essay from museum curator Kit Brooks that explores special effects in kabuki theatre ghost plays and their representation in souvenir woodblocks · Essay from museum curator Frank Feltens on Tsukioka Kôgyo, the first artist to render the eerie atmosphere of Noh plays in prints Spooky, fascinating, and fun, this is an ideal book for lovers of Japanese art, folklore, horror, and history.