Autumn 2009 Catalogue 4 pdfing:1 - Yale University Press

48 ArtArt of the SamuraiJapanese Arms and Armor, 1156–1868Edited by Morihiro OgawaSamurai arms and equipment are widely recognised as masterpieces in steel, silk and lacquer.This extensively illustrated volume is published in conjunction with the first comprehensiveexhibition devoted to the arts of the samurai. It includes the finest examples of swords—thespirit of the samurai—as well as sword mountings and fittings, armour and helmets, saddles,banners and paintings. The objects in the catalogue, drawn entirely from public and privatecollections in Japan, feature more than 100 officially designated national treasures andimportant cultural properties. Dating from the 5th to the 19th century, these majestic worksoffer a complete picture of samurai culture and its unique blend of the martial and therefined.Many of the greatest Japanese blade makers are represented in this volume, from the earliest kotõ (‘old sword’) masters such asYasuie (12th century) and Tomomitsu (14th century) to the Edo-period smiths Nagasone Kotetsu and Kiyomaro. These blades,cherished as much for their beauty as for their cutting effectiveness, were equipped with elaborate hilts and scabbards prized fortheir exquisite craftsmanship and materials, including silk, rayskin, gold, lacquer and alloys unique to Japan, such as shakudõand shibuichi. Japanese armour is also fully surveyed, from the rarest iron armour of the Kofun period (5th century) to theinventive ceremonial helmets made towards the end of the age of the samurai.Exhibition The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 20/10/09 – 10/1/10Morihiro Ogawa is Special Consultant for Japanese Arms and Armor, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.November 304 pp. 279x228mm. 75 b/w + 300 colour illus. ISBN 978-0-300-14205-1 £45.00*American Portrait Miniaturesin The Metropolitan Museum of ArtCarrie Rebora Barratt and Lori ZabarThis volume catalogues the world’s most comprehensive collection of American portraitminiatures, ranging in date from the early 18th to the 20th century and representing 155artists. Jewel-like and intimate, the pieces portray spouses, children and other loved ones andwere usually created for personal use. The Museum’s collection is also significant for its selfportraitsby artists and for portraits of notable public figures. Each of the nearly six hundredworks is illustrated and described in detail, and a biography and bibliography are provided foreach artist. An introductory essay conveys the history of the collection.Carrie Rebora Barratt is Curator, American Paintings and Sculpture, and Manager ofThe Henry R. Luce Center for the Study of American Art, and Lori Zabar is ResearchAssociate, American Paintings and Sculpture, both at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.January 256 pp. 279x216mm. 25 b/w + 400 colour illus. ISBN 978-0-300-14895-4 £45.00*The Metropolitan Museum of Art • New YorkThe Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collectionin The Metropolitan Museum of ArtSabine Rewald and Magdalena DabrowskiIn a career spanning over six decades, the New York art dealer Pierre Matisse (1900–1989)contributed substantially to the advancement of modern art. At his eponymous gallery onEast Fifty-seventh Street, he showed several now legendary artists for the first time outsideEurope. The collection—paintings, sculpture and drawings by Balthus, Bonnard, Chagall,Derain, Dubuffet, Giacometti, Magritte, Miró and the dealer’s own father, Henri Matisse,among others—was donated to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2004 by the foundationestablished by his widow.These extraordinary artworks are presented with informative entries addressing thecircumstances of each work’s creation and the dealer’s relationship to the artist. In theintroduction, the story of Pierre Matisse’s early struggles in New York is told for the first time and illustrated with previouslyunpublished archival photographs.Sabine Rewald is Jacques and Natasha Gelman Curator and Magdalena Dabrowski is Special Consultant, both in theDepartment of Nineteenth-Century, Modern, and Contemporary Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.January 192 pp. 279x216mm. 100 colour illus. ISBN 978-0-300-15510-5 £45.00*