Publisher's Synopsis
With a presentation that divides the book into two equal parts, 'A Tale of Two Balconies' explores what makes each of these artworks - both in the collection of the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution - unique. Exploring the depicted locations of each, in Edo Japan and Victorian England, the authors examine the idea of the balcony as a construct at once private and public, creating a view that juxtaposes different cultural domains within and beyond the balcony railing, and including the viewer as part of the group of figures depicted in the scene.
