Happy New Year 2016! As is our tradition for special new year posts, this month we bring a stunning collection for you. For the art followers with a keen interest in woodcuts, theater, and Japan, this Kabuki collection is a veritable treasure. For the uninitiated, Kabuki is a classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theater is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate Kumadori (make-up) worn by the actors.
Between the 17th and the 19th centuries, kabuki was the traditional theater for the bourgeoisie in Japan. Artists recorded numerous stage scenes and artists’ portraits in woodcuts. During the 19th century many of these works traveled to Europe, where they formed the basis for the impressive collection in Geneva consisting of more than 1,000 Japanese woodcuts in excellent condition. This lavishly illustrated catalog assembles more than a hundred of these woodcuts for the first time and provides a key to understanding Japanese culture.
From the book description
This is a wondrous deep dive into this much celebrated cultural aspect of Japan. The book is widely available at leading book stores.