Description
A cleverly designed book about Katsushika Hokusai's The Sazaidō of Gohyakurakanji and James McNeill Whistler's Variations in Flesh Colour and Green – The Balcony, that includes drawing, collage, coloring and press-out activities. With a presentation that divides the book into two equal parts, A Tale of Two Balconies investigates the elements that make each of these artworks—both in the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art—unique. Exploring the depicted locations of each (in Edo Japan and Victorian England) enables deeper insight as authors Kit Brooks and Katherine Roeder examine the idea of the balcony itself as a construct at once both private and public—creating a view and juxtaposing the different cultural domains both within and beyond the balcony railing.
This stunning book is double-fronted, so readers can begin reading from either side. A carefully-designed center section encourages readers to engage with the themes of perspective and recollection through their own art-making activities—collage, drawing and coloring, even building a pop-out Hokusai diorama and Victorian Whistler toy theater.
Museum Story
The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art, opened to the public in 1923, a gift to the nation from Charles Lang Freer. The Gallery contains an extensive collection of oriental art, prints, sculpture and silk panels, as well as a major group of 19th and 20th century American works.
Details
- Paperback
- 164 pages, 100 color illustrations
- 10" x 9"
- Written by Kit Brooks and Katherine Roeder
