JFLA Lecture Series 50

Hokusai: The Name that Sold Books
Art and Commerce in Nineteenth-century Japan

Lecturer: Dr. Ellis Tinios

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). Hokusai manga, part XII (1834). A double-page image simply titled "Wind". Five individuals struggle to make their way on a windy autum day. Image courtesy of the Art Reearch Center, Ritsumeikan University (Ebi0446).

 

Date & Time:
Tuesday, May 1, 2018 7pm

Venue:
The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles
(5700 Wilshire Blvd., #100 Los Angeles, CA 90036)

Street parking is available near JFLA. Click here for parking info. 

Admission:
FREE (RSVP Required)
 

In this lecture, Dr Ellis Tinios tells a tale of deceit and low cunning, blatant plagiarism, willful misrepresentation and great art. He tells the story of ‘Hokusai’—the hottest brand in 19th-century Japanese publishing. Over his long career Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) excelled as a painter, a print designer and a book illustrator. Today few admirers of his art are aware that he reached his widest audience through his books. Hokusai’s books were central to the formation of his reputation among his contemporaries and posthumously in Europe and America. Hokusai’s astonishing achievements as a book illustrator will be placed squarely in the competitive world of Edo and early Meiji publishing. In the course of this lecture three books, each a milestone in Hokusai’s career, will be viewed in their entirety.

 

About Lecturer:

Dr Ellis Tinios is Honorary Lecturer in History at the University of Leeds, faculty member of the Rare Book School, University of Virginia, and Visiting Researcher at the Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University. His primary research interest is the illustrated book in early modern Japan. His work encompasses bibliography, book design, the mechanics and economics of book production, and the marketing, advertising, sale, consumption and afterlives of books.

 

Recent publications include: Understanding Japanese Illustrated Books: a short introduction to their history, bibliography and format, co-authored with Suzuki Jun (Brill, 2013); Japanese Prints: Ukiyo-e in Edo, 1700-1900 (British Museum Press, 2010, reprinted with revisions, 2014); and ‘Japanese Illustrated Erotic Books in the Context of Commercial Publishing, 1660-1868’ in Japan Review: Journal of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies (No 26 (2013) Special Issue: Shunga).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This event is co-organized by:
The Tadashi Yanai Initiative for Globalizing Japanese Humanities