Featuring over 100 rare Japanese woodblock prints and thoughtful
commentary, The Printer's eye paints a vibrant and fascinating picture
of Japan's Uikoyo-e or "floating world." Edwin Grabhorn (1889--1968),
co-founder of the Grabhorn Press, Northern California's premier
letterpress printer, was a pioneer American collector of Japanese
prints. The Grabhorn prints in the collection of the Asian Art Museum
comprise the upper echelons of the original collection. The collection
includes a superb selection of early monochrome and hand-colored ukiyo-e
prints by Sugimura Jihei, Torii Kiyonobu, Okumura Masanobu and others,
from the seminal decades of the woodblock print production in the late
1600s and early 1700s.Japanese Prints from the Grabhorn Collection marks
the first time these prints are being published in quantity for a wide
audience. Leading scholars David Waterhouse and Julia Meech provide
in-depth looks at the prints in their Japanese contexts and at
Grabhorn's role as a print collector. Large full-color reproductions all
140 of the Grabhorn prints in the Asian Art Museum's collection are
accompanied by entries by Laura Allen and Melissa Rinne.