Japan Style

Product Description

This book describes & defines what ‘ Japan style’ is. It explores specific achievements in Japanese art & architecture, but also offers an in-depth analysis of the whole of Japanese culture, its vision of the world & of humankind. ‘ Japan style’ is something recognizable to everyone: a beautifully arranged flower, an elegant piece of calligraphy or a simple rock garden, but it is also something that is very difficult to define. This book gives the reader the tools to fully understand Japanese art & culture. As Gian Carlo Calza says, the path to understanding & appreciating Japanese culture is slow & long, & in order to develop the right sensibility on the journey, it is imperative that the reader acquires the necessary means. With this in mind, the author reveals & shares his experience in & knowledge of Japanese culture, defining the essence of Japanese style. The book is divided into three main sections. In the first one (‘ Irregular Beauty’), the author delineates the different aspects of Japanese culture & draws interesting connections between art, architecture, religion, philosophy & mythology. The second part of the book (‘A Feeling of Nature’) follows a chronological path from ancient times to the present explaining more specifically how to interpret the different forms of Japanese art (literature, painting, sculpture, etc.). The third part of the book (` Art Masters`) contains short monographs on Japanese masters in the history of Japanese art & culture. Calza’s comprehensive & insightful text is accompanied by 150 full-colour images of a great variety of examples from Japanese art & culture, examples of which you can see to the right of this page.