Mingei of Japan: The Legacy of the Founders, Shoji Hamada …, 2006, Fine w/DJ

Longenecker, Martha W. (Editor). Mingei of Japan: The Legacy of the Founders, Shoji Hamada, Kanjiro Kawai, Soetsu Yanagi. North County Museum Branch, Mingei International Museum, 2006
ISBN: 0914155202

A Fine book in a Fine dust jacket, 4to, 11" x 8 3/4." Dark blue cloth-covered boards in a dark blue paper dust jacket. Gilt lettering on front cover and book spine. White lettering on front panel and dust jacket spine. Color illustration on front panel. Gilt decorative flyleaf in front. Covers pristine and intact, binding tight, sharp tips. Dust jacket has light rubbing, else pristine and intact. Dust jacket protected in a paper-backed mylar sleeve. Pages pristine and intact. 298 pp., including illustrations. A catalog featuring examples of mingei crafts. The philosophy and movement of mingei was founded by Soetsu Yanagi (1889-1961), a Japanese art critic and philosopher. He and a group of craftsmen, including Japanese potters Shoji Hamada (1894-1978) and Kanjiro Kawai (1890-1966), forwarded the mingei movement, also known as the Japanese Folk Craft movement, amid a period of rapid industrialization and Westernization in Japan. Mingei championed the anonymous craftsman and traditional folk crafts of Japan. Yanagi translated mingei as "folk craft" in English to differentiate it from contemporary "higher arts." Among the many examples of mingei crafts depicted herein are pottery, kimono, basketry, and paper fans.