biography japan

Softcover. Washington DC, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1st, 1977, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 159 pages. illustrated in b&w, some color. Arthur Wesley Dow (1857-1922) was an American artist and educator. This monograph traces his life and work in nine chapters: Beginnings; Paris and Brittany; The Return; Japanese Currents; The Pratt Institute and the Launching of Composition; Ipswich and the World; Teachers College; and Conclusion. With extensive notes, bibliography, and 94 illustrations. Clean copy.

Softcover. Washington DC, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1st, 1977, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 159 pages. illustrated in b&w, some color. Arthur Wesley Dow (1857-1922) was an American artist and educator. This monograph traces his life and work in nine chapters: Beginnings; Paris and Brittany; The Return; Japanese Currents; The Pratt Institute and the Launching of Composition; Ipswich and the World; Teachers College; and Conclusion. With extensive notes, bibliography, and 94 illustrations. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Berkeley CA, University of California Press, 1st, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 267 pages, b&w photos. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket. This book examines the often-neglected role played by immigrant artists and critics in the circle of Alfred Stieglitz, including Japanese-German author Sadakichi Hartmann, Mexican-born caricaturist Marius de Zayas and English Sri-Lankan curator Ananda Coomaraswamy, as well as better-known U.S.-born painters, including Arthur Dove and Georgia O'Keeffe.

Hardcover. Long Beach CA, Long Beach Museum of Art, 1st, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover with a nice dust jacket. Since 1970, Mizuno's work has evolved from functional dinnerware to abstract sculptural forms, from playful and humorous trompe l'oeil plates to richly layered sculpture informed by his evocative personal history, paralleling the development of the ceramics field itself in the late 20th century as it evolved from functional forms to a medium of full artistic expression. The exhibition is the first major museum exhibition to survey the work of this artist whose superbly crafted works, while firmly grounded in the traditions of the ceramic arts, extend to new forms in clay that defy traditional categories. This exhibition catalogue designed by Takaaki Matsumoto includes a forward, interview with the artist, a biography and exhibition history, and the exhibition checklist of 48 artworks. The exhibition and publication trace the work of this Japanese-born, Los Angeles-based ceramist from 1971 through 2003. Interview of the artist by Deborah McLeod, foreword by Museum Director Harold Nelson Format: hardcover Dimensions: 8-1/2 x 6-1/4 inches, 96 pages plus cover / 51 color plates. in conjunction with the exhibition of the same title at the Long Beach Museum of Art November 18, 2005 through January 15, 2006.

Hardcover. Long Beach CA, Long Beach Museum of Art, 1st, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 95 pages, illustrated with 45 color plates. Like new in publisher's shrinkwrap. Since 1970, Mizuno's work has evolved from functional dinnerware to abstract sculptural forms, from playful and humorous trompe l'oeil plates to richly layered sculpture informed by his evocative personal history, paralleling the development of the ceramics field itself in the late 20th century as it evolved from functional forms to a medium of full artistic expression. The exhibition is the first major museum exhibition to survey the work of this artist whose superbly crafted works, while firmly grounded in the traditions of the ceramic arts, extend to new forms in clay that defy traditional categories. This exhibition catalogue designed by Takaaki Matsumoto includes a forward, interview with the artist, a biography and exhibition history, and the exhibition checklist of 48 artworks. The exhibition and publication trace the work of this Japanese-born, Los Angeles-based ceramist from 1971 through 2003. ISBN 0-97127772-3-0 Published by the Long Beach Museum of Art Interview of the artist by Deborah McLeod, foreword by Museum Director Harold Nelson Format: hardcover Dimensions: 8-1/2 x 6-1/4 inches 96 page plus cover / 51 color plates.

Hardcover. NY/London, Faber & Faber, 1st, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Like new in publisher's shrink-wrap. 304 pages. This is the first of two titles by the Manic Street Preachers' bassist and lyricist, Nicky Wire. For more than twenty years and from Blackwood, Wales to Tokyo, Japan, Nicky Wire has kept a personal visual history of the band in their various stages from "Generation Terrorists" through "Holy Bible" and right up to last year's remarkable album, "Postcards from a Young Man". Edited down from over 1,000 of Wire's personal polaroid's and with accompanying text by the man himself, "Death of The Polaroid" promises to be a rich, visual biography of one of the most loved and iconoclastic British bands of the past two decades.

Hardcover. NY/London, Faber & Faber, 1st, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Like new in publisher's shrink-wrap. 304 pages. This is the first of two titles by the Manic Street Preachers' bassist and lyricist, Nicky Wire. For more than twenty years and from Blackwood, Wales to Tokyo, Japan, Nicky Wire has kept a personal visual history of the band in their various stages from "Generation Terrorists" through "Holy Bible" and right up to last year's remarkable album, "Postcards from a Young Man". Edited down from over 1,000 of Wire's personal polaroid's and with accompanying text by the man himself, "Death of The Polaroid" promises to be a rich, visual biography of one of the most loved and iconoclastic British bands of the past two decades.

Hardcover. Yokohama, unknown, 1st, 1909, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, 842 pages, gray cloth covers worn, spine cloth loose from spine backing, hinges cracked. Inside very good,clean, lacks title page which may never have been printed. A detailed collection of names, places, events, throughout Japanese history. English text. From a library in Japan with card and envelope inside rear cover and sticker on spine. Uncommon.

Hardcover. Sydney AU, Pacific Publications, 1st, 1968, Book: Fair, Dust Jacket: Poor, Hardcover, black cloth covers, gilt titles on spine, b&w illustrations. Covers worn, tattered dust jacket. Australian George Wilfred Lambert Townsend (1896-1962) spent twenty-five years in New Guinea during which he battled head-hunters on the Sepik River, battled the Rabaul bureaucracy and finally the Japanese. There is some marking and highlighting to the text. A reading copy of a scarce title concerning Australia's administrative rule in New Guinea.

Hardcover. NY, Scholastic Press, 1st, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 64 pages. Allen Say's own story of his path to becoming the renowned artist he is today. Shunned by his father, who didn't understand his son's artistic leanings, Allen was embraced by Noro Shinpei, Japan's leading cartoonist and the man he came to love as his "spiritual father." As WWII raged, Allen was further inspired to consider questions of his own heritage and the motivations of those around him. He worked hard in rigorous drawing classes, studied, trained--and ultimately came to understand who he really is. Part memoir, part graphic novel, part narrative history, DRAWING FROM MEMORY presents a complex look at the real-life relationship between a mentor and his student. With watercolor paintings, original cartoons, vintage photographs, and maps, Allen Say has created a book that will inspire the artist in all of us.

Softcover. Createspace Independent Publishing, 1st, 2018, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Sodtcover, 254 pages. Actor, director, writer Evans connect his dots and long dashes through a life both creative and chaotic. Family, career, and cancer bump heads in a runaway boxcar full of colorful entanglements with the famous and the foolish. Tracing his family history through the years from the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression to the tragedy of the Hindenburg, and his early childhood in Japan before WW2, Evans cleverly sets the stage for what follows. His career as an actor ultimately clashed with an early marriage and fatherhood, providing many temptations that carried Evans to Mexico, Arizona, Ohio, Delaware, Kauai, Hawaii, and points beyond. Working in films with stars Jack Nicholson, George C. Scott, David Hemmings, and Michael J. Pollard were high points in his 50-year career that led to a love affair with France and La Nouvelle Vague and the writing, production and direction of his own films and plays. After a season as series regular Paul Hanley opposite Mia Farrow in tv's Peyton Place, Evans moved from early shows like Mr. Novak, Gunsmoke, and Bonanza to an episode of Star Trek with Shatner and Nimoy. Countless other roles sent him on his way to features including major roles in Islands in the Stream, The Nickel Ride, Dirty Little Billy and Synanon, productions that brought him together with many of Hollywood's top directors including Richard Rush, Robert Mulligan, Stan Dragoti and Richard Quine. As his wife, Jo, frequently reminds us, "Dick has made many things, but never without the help of others." Clean copy.

Hardcover. Jefferson NC, McFarland & Co., 1st, 2000, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, maroon cloth with gilt lettering. Part 1: A Korean Childhood in Japan, 1930-1944; Part 2: Growing Up in Korea, 1944- 1951. No Dust jacket issued.

Hardcover. NY, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1st, 2017, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 206 pages. Famously unabashed, W. Eugene Smith was photography's most celebrated humanist. As a photo essayist at Life magazine in the 1940s and '50s, he established himself as an intimate chronicler of human culture. His photographs of war and disaster, villages and metropolises, doctors and midwives, revolutionized the role of images in journalism, transforming photography for decades to come. When Smith died in 1978, he left behind eighteen dollars in the bank and forty-four thousand pounds of archives. He was only fifty-nine, but he was flat worn-out. His death certificate read "stroke," but, as was said of the immortal jazzman Charlie Parker, Smith died of "everything," from drug and alcohol benders to weeklong work sessions with no sleep. Lured by the intoxicating trail of people that emerged from Smith's stupefying archive, Sam Stephenson began a quest to trace his footsteps. In Gene Smith's Sink, Stephenson merges traditional biography with rhythmic digressions to revive Smith's life and legacy. Traveling across twenty-nine states, Japan, and the Pacific, Stephenson profiles a lively cast of characters, including the playwright Tennessee Williams, to whom Smith likened himself; the avant-garde filmmaker Stan Brakhage, with whom he once shared a Swiss chalet; the artist Mary Frank, who was married to his friend Robert Frank; the jazz pianists Thelonious Monk and Sonny Clark, whose music was taped by Smith in his loft; and a series of obscure caregivers who helped keep Smith on his feet. The distillation of twenty years of research, Gene Smith's Sink is an unprecedented look into the photographer's potent legacy and the subjects around him. Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1st, 1891, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, 128 pages. Hardcover with decorated front cover. Covers have heavy wear on edges. Light soil and darkening to pages. Gutter lightly cracked.

Hardcover. NY, Rizzoli, 1st, 2022, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, still in publisher's shrinkwrap. A rare and poignant compilation of photography and written anecdotes by American photographer and artist Lee Jaffe that captures his close friendship, collaboration, and travels with the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat as they traversed Japan, Thailand, and Switzerland in 1983. Lee Jaffe, a cross-disciplinary visual artist, musician, and poet, took photos of his friend, Jean-Michel Basquiat, when they traveled abroad in 1983. As a photographer, Jaffe had a connection to Basquiat, and their time spent together resulted in an archive of imagery that captured one of the art world's true legends through an unfiltered and authentic lens. Basquiat and Jaffe connected over reggae music at a mutual friend's art show. It was the early 1980s in New York, when the art scene was raw, complicated, and thriving, and Jaffe cultivated strong connections with cultural figures such as Basquiat, Bob Marley, and Peter Tosh. "For me, watching him [ Jean] paint reminded me of the times I would sit and play harmonica while Bob Marley, with his acoustic guitar, would be writing songs that were eventually to become classics," Jaffe says. "With Jean and Bob, it seemed like they were channeling inspiration coming from an otherworldly place." This beautiful volume presents snapshots of Basquiat: from the artist smiling on a bullet train to Kyoto and behind-the-scenes documentation of Basquiat creating artwork in St. Moritz, to poignant portraits that mirror his undeniable magnetism. These rare depictions of Basquiat come to life with Jaffe's unforgettable experiences of their friendship, collaborations, and travels detailed in private written memories and anecdotes. This insightful and moving illustrated volume captures the soul of the unedited, ambitious, young artist during the height of his short yet unprecedented artistic career.

Hardcover. Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Algonquin Young Readers, 1st, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 113 pages. Hardcover. Extensive color illustrations by James McMullan throughout. Illustrated paste downs and end papers. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket. McMullan explained, "In my late seventies I decided to organize my memories of my childhood before and during the Second World War into a coherent narrative. The tension of our lives when the Japanese army took over our town in China and the subsequent anxieties of traveling from country to country with my mother has imprinted the incidents of those years into my memory with an enduring lucidity that defies the otherwise fading recall of my aging mind."

Hardcover. Jefferson NC, McFarland Publishing, 1st, 1997, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, blue cloth with white lettering. 176 pages, b&w illustrations. In 1945, the author found herself in the monsoon-drenched jungles of Assam, caring for soldiers in the China-Burma-India theater of war. Nothing in her nurse's training had prepared her for the tropical diseases her patients faced, nor had her experiences readied her for a hospital where men spat on the floor, rats were pervasive, and patients were as likely to sell their medicine as swallow it. What made the experience tolerable was Nurse Camp's romance with one of the airmen who flew the Hump, supplying O.S.S. troops behind Japanese lines and carrying General Joseph Stillwell's Chinese troops to fight the battle of North Burma. She accompanied her future husband on some of his missions. Based, in part, on letters she wrote to her parents, this is the poignant story of one nurse's experience in World War II and how her service changed her life forever. Name on front fly leaf, otherwise a clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1st, 1956, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a lightly worn and chipped dust jacket, 149 pages. Life of a Japanese, rescued from shipwreck by an American whaler, who spent his youth in New England, returned to Japan, and was important in the opening of Japan to the Occident in the 19th century. Clean copy.

Softcover. Seattle, Fantagraphics, 1st, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 112 pages. A quarterly anthology of literary comics. This first volume of Mome features the following: John Pham's (Epoxy) 221 Sycamore Ave., Paul Hornschemeier (Mother Come Home and Forlorn Funnies) contributes a six-part graphic novella titled Life with Mr. Dangerous, Anders Nilsen's The Beast is a full-color, 12-page absurdist monologue by a single character on the push-and-pull of art and politics, Jeffrey Brown contributes an autobiographical piece, David Heatley contributes the first of a series of fictional stories revolving around a cast of characters in a town called a Overpeck (also the name of the strip) that follows a bizarre dream logic, Andrice Arp adapts a Japanese fairy tale called Jewels of the Sea, Kurt Wolfgang examines death, Gabrielle Bell examines the existentialism of the dot-com boom, Jonathan Bennett dances with the Ventures, and Sophie Crumb (Belly Button Comix) delivers a piece of comics biography. With cartoons by Martin Cendreda.

Softcover. Seattle, Fantagraphics, 1st, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 112 pages. A quarterly anthology of literary comics. This first volume of Mome features the following: John Pham's (Epoxy) 221 Sycamore Ave., Paul Hornschemeier (Mother Come Home and Forlorn Funnies) contributes a six-part graphic novella titled Life with Mr. Dangerous, Anders Nilsen's The Beast is a full-color, 12-page absurdist monologue by a single character on the push-and-pull of art and politics, Jeffrey Brown contributes an autobiographical piece, David Heatley contributes the first of a series of fictional stories revolving around a cast of characters in a town called a Overpeck (also the name of the strip) that follows a bizarre dream logic, Andrice Arp adapts a Japanese fairy tale called Jewels of the Sea, Kurt Wolfgang examines death, Gabrielle Bell examines the existentialism of the dot-com boom, Jonathan Bennett dances with the Ventures, and Sophie Crumb (Belly Button Comix) delivers a piece of comics biography. With cartoons by Martin Cendreda.

Softcover. Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, 1st, 1984, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 159 pages, with 72 illustrations, 52 in color. Light edge wear to wrappers, else a very clean, tight copy. These monotypes are presented by Cecily Langdale in this book which was published in 1984. It contains a brief Biography of the artist that describes his influences, travels and contacts, and a general discussion about Monotypes which summarises their chronology, style and technique. These two essays are illustrated by 28 b/w figures. The monotypes are then presented, in colour, with commentaries on each by Langdale that integrate factual information and artistic significance. Addenda include a further 3 monotypes by the artist and there is a Bibliography of relevant publications. Prendergast executed his last monotypes in 1901-02, probably because of his increased interest on the complexities of oil painting techniques that he continued to explore for the remainder of his life. For anyone unfamiliar with monotypes, the information provided by Langdale is extremely useful to enable a full appreciation of the works presented in this book. The artist used oil paint in the preparation of his monotypes and may have used a spoon to transfer the images onto the Japanese tissue support.

Hardcover. Philadelphia, The Winchell Co., 1st, 1985, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 297 pages, b&w illustrations, in a bright dust jacket. Clean. Helene Iswolsky, daughter of a Russian diplomat, grew up in Japan, Denmark, Russia, and France. In 1911, her father became Russian ambassador to France. She returned to Russia for her debut in 1914, to be presented to the Tsarina Alexandra. While there she attended the wedding of Prince Felix Yusupov, who was to murder Rasputin three years later. After the Tsar was overthrown, her father retired to Biarritz and died there in 1919, leaving unpaid debts. The author took up translating and writing. She had a religious awakening and became a Catholic. A sojourn in a Benedictine monastery left her changed, but she decided not to make the cloister her life. The author knew many notable people in the Paris area, especially writers, poets, critics, philosophers of the "new wave," Christian humanists, and Russian emigres. She attended the Sunday afternoon gatherings of Jacques Maritain and Nicholas Berdiaev, and worked on Emmanuel Mounier's journal "Esprit." When the Nazis occupied France, she escaped to America with her mother. Here she founded an ecumenical movement called "The Third Hour" and taught Russian at Fordham University and other schools. She was a close friend of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker movement. Scarce.

Hardcover. Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1st, 1970, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a lightly worn, chipped dust jacket. 410 pages, b&w illustrations. Best known as the author of "Windows for the Crown Prince, " an account of her years as English tutor to Crown Prince Akihito of Japan, Elizabeth Gray Vining now tells the full story of her life, including impressions of Japan that she omitted from her earlier book. Previous owner'e signature on Front fly leaf otherwise clean.

Softcover. New Haven CT, Yale University Press, 2009, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 144 pages. Like new in publisher's shrink-wrap. Designated a Living National Treasure in 1956, Serizawa Keisuke (1895-1984) was one of the greatest artists of 20th-century Japan. This is the first book in English to trace Serizawa's artistic biography in detail using the finest examples of his work from leading Japanese collections. A major exponent of the mingei (people's crafts) movement, Serizawa achieved fame as a textile designer using traditional stencil-dyeing techniques and often working in large-scale formats such as folding screens or kimonos. The stunning works in this catalogue are important not only for the originality of their conception, but also for the variety of their materials: cotton, silk, hemp and a range of other fibers, and paper decorated with the brilliant yet warm hues of vegetable dyes. Dramatic in design, Serizawa's textiles have an expressive power that far transcends expectations of a "craft" medium.