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Sōtatsu: Making Waves | Catalogue

Detail, Waves at Matsushima; Tawaraya Sōtatsu, (act. ca. 1600–40); pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, gold, and silver on paper; Freer Gallery of Art, F1906.231-232

Tawaraya Sōtatsu was one of the most innovative and imaginative artists of the 17th century, faded into near obscurity for the next two hundred years, and today is one of the most revered painters in the history of Japanese art. His remarkable story is recounted in Sōtatsu, a comprehensive and lavishly illustrated book featuring insightful essays by leading scholars from the United States and Japan. The artist’s life and craft are illuminated in this 368-page volume through a close examination of his contemporaries, his evolution as a master painter, and his increasing stature in Japan and the West, thanks in part to the efforts of collector Charles Lang Freer. With 308 black-and-white and color illustrations. Published by the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in conjunction with the exhibition Sōtatsu: Making Waves (October 24, 2015–January 31, 2016).

Contributors

Furuta Ryō, University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts
Yukio Lippit, Harvard University
Nakamachi Keiko, Jissen Women’s University
Noguchi Takeshi, Nezu Museum
Okudaira Shunroku, Osaka University
Ōta Aya, Sannomaru Shōzōkan, Museum of the Imperial Collections
James T. Ulak, Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Publication details

Title: Sōtatsu
Publisher: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Publication date: October 2015
Format: Exhibition catalogue accompanying Sōtatsu: Making Waves (October 24, 2015–January 31, 2016)
Cloth edition distributed by Smithsonian Books/Random House
Cloth: 978-1-588345-07-3, $50.00
Paper: 978-0-934686-75-4, $40.00
368 pages, including four 8-page gatefolds
308 black-and-white and color images

Preview the book

Front Matter (PDF, 1.1MB)

Foreword | Julian Raby
Foreword | Andō Hiroyasu
Acknowledgments
Contributors
Note to the Reader and Maps

Essays

Introduction | James T. Ulak (PDF, 1.2MB)
Tawaraya Sōtatsu: Five Perspectives | Yukio Lippit
Sōtatsu’s Gold-and-Silver Paintings: The Interaction Between
Painting and Calligraphy | Okudaira Shunroku
Sōtatsu and Tōshichirō: The Floating Fans Screens in the Imperial Collections | Ōta Aya
Miraculous Waters: Expression and Meaning in the Waves at Matsushima | Nakamachi Keiko
A Garden View: The Origins of I’nen Seal Grass-and-Flower Paintings | Noguchi Takeshi
Charles Lang Freer and the “Discovery” of Sōtatsu | James T. Ulak (PDF, 3.3MB)
Sōtatsu in the 20th Century | Furuta Ryō