The Japanese Print An Interpretation

The influence that Japan - as well as its culture and architecture - exerted on the celebrated American architect Frank Lloyd Wright is most evident in his own creations. Unlike his contemporaries in the United States, who viewed European architecture as part of their heritage, Wright chose Japan and the Japanese culture as his aesthetic model. This influence was also reflected in his collections of art objects, sculptures and, above all, prints. In 1906, he displayed his ukiyo-e woodblock print collection at an exhibition of Hiroshige's works held at the Art Institute of Chicago. He had begun collecting the prints a year earlier, during his first trip to Japan. As one of the pioneer collectors of such works in the West, and an astute art dealer, he immediately developed an interpretive theory which he published in 1912 - The Japanese Print: An Interpretation. The book became a fundamental reference work for experts and amateurs of Japanese art and for anyone seriously striving to understand Wright's architecture.This new deluxe edition is based on the 1967 edition of The Japanese Print and includes further writings on the subject by Wright: Shibaraku (Wright's introduction to the Arts Club Exhibition Catalogue 1917), In Trust for Posterity (Wright's introduction to the Anderson Galeries Exhibition Catalogue 1927), The Ancient Journal of Japan and In Pursuit of the Print (both of which come from Wright's 1943 Autobiography). This is a very attractive, large format (royal quarto), slipcased edition. The edition is limited to 1000 copies and each is numbered.