JAPANESE PRINTS GEB: The Art Institute of Chicago (Tiny Folio) - Tapa dura

"Another in the Abbeville's Tiny Folios series, this little book is a real gem. The Art Institute of Chicago houses one of the world's most beautiful and comprehensive collections of Japanese woodblock prints in the world. Clarence Buckingham, of the famed Chicago family, donated 12,000 prints alone. The book covers this exquisite collection of work from the 17th to 19th centuries in four sections: Primitives, Courtesans, Actors, and Landscapes. It includes work by well-known masters such as Hiroshige, Hokusia, and Utamaro, as well as lesser-known talents such as Shun'ei, Shunko, and Kiyonaga. While the trim size is small, none of the subtle colors, delicate paper texture, or intricate fabric design is lost." --Amazon.com "The small size of this title may not lend to easy library circulation but it makes an excellent and affordable gift: over 270 prints are reproduced in full color, selected from the Institute's collection of woodblock prints, and provides a fine range of works from the mid-seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth century. An excellent survey." --Midwest Book Review

James T. Ulak, formerly a curator at The Art Institute of Chicago, now lives in Washington, D.C.