I’m back on the bridge + illustrations by Takato Yamamoto

Holy Moses, it’s been a while everyone! I’m so sorry for the complete lack of updates in recent months, I suddenly became very busy with uni and then had some issues with my internet connection.

But I’m back for 2012, hoping to bring you lots of delicious, delicious eyefood!

To start if off, I’d like to showcase some beautiful works by Japanese gothic artist Takato Yamamoto, mostly because I’ve recently bought some of his prints, and am a little obsessed. A lot of his work has some explicit and gory imagery, so I’m presenting some of the ‘safer’ ones here. If you want to see more, his published works are available at AkaTako.

As an apology for the unannounced hiatus, I’ll be doing another update tonight, with some tasty fashion photos for you all too!

Yoshitaka Amano’s Tale of Genji

I’ve been reading The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu again recently, for a class at university. It’s really such a wonderful book! I own the translation by Edward Seidensticker, which has illustrations in the form of woodcuts from a 17th century Japanese edition. They’re charming images, but quite static and don’t communicate much of the story’s charisma or emotion.

Yoshitaka Amano, one of my all time favourite illustrators, has also released an abridged edition of the Tale, with his own artworks. I haven’t bought it yet (though I will, because it’s very affordable!), but it seems like an amazing volume from what I have seen of others’ scans.

The colourful layering of Hein period court dress is stunning in Amano’s style, but I think the reason the illustrations are so interesting visually is that the motifs he uses for a lot of the kimono are actually not Japanese at all. Amano has a really admirable sense for combining a Japanese aesthetic in his lines, with a decorative style which is more influenced by Russia and the Middle East, and artists like Klimt and Bakst.

Masaaki Sasamoto

Sorry it’s been a while since my last post! It’s exam time….

I really love this artist from Japan! Very romantic and beautiful paintings, with a fairytale whistfulness, the glow of icons, and an (always welcome) touch of Klimt.

His website: http://www16.plala.or.jp/HAL2006/index.htm

Ink and Paper

Nokkasili does very sweet ink pen drawings embellished with Japanese papers. I feel that collage is often hit-and-miss, but this is beautiful~

The Green Houses

Kitagawa Utamaro is one of my favourite artists of all time.
‘Green Houses’ (seirō) was the rather subtle term for the brothels of Yoshiwara (Edo’s red light district), and the women Utamaro usually depicts are prostitutes (not geisha, though he did sometimes depict them too – you can tell the difference easily: generally speaking geisha wear their obi tied at the back, while prostitutes tie theirs at the front).
Despite their trade, many of Yoshiwara’s most succesful courtesans were celebrated in art for their beauty and poise. Utamaro’s women have a lot of dignity because he uses formal composition and style to depict them. Though erotic art (shunga) was an established genre in ukiyo-e, many of Utamaro most lauded works focus only on inconsequential moments in the courtesans’ daily lives.

I feel that Utamaro’s way of drawing women has the same grace and elegance as contemporary fashion illustration figures, and the way that he depicts the draping and layered patterns of kimono is inspiring.

Dolls by Virginie Ropars

More incredible dolls. This time by French artisan Virginie Ropars, with wonderful gothic fantasy elements.

http://vropars.free.fr/index.htm

Dolls by Elena and Ekaterina Popovy

After discussing our mutual love of Marina Bychkova’s ‘Enchanted Dolls’, a friend linked to me the website of the Popovy sisters, a Russian duo whose dolls look like something off a haute couture runway.
The level of detail in the clothing and ornament is just incredible.

http://www.popovy-dolls.com/