Customer Reviews

Dream Spectres: Extreme Ukiyo-e: Sex, Blood & the Supernatural

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This fairly small and thin book is replete with some of the rarer imagery from the ukiyo-e output. Fortunately, or so it might have been, they have focused on the depictions of the imagery, which take centre stage over any discussions surrounding them. However, unfortunately, the 'graphics department' have all but ruined virtually every single one of the reproductions of the same, making this book all but worthless beyond a passing squint.

The larger, postcard-sized reproductions are almost universally very blurry (more blurry, due to the reduced size, than the first scan uploaded by David suggests), presumably from their source photography, though who knows if they thought to artificially add some extra blur - it would not now surprise me. This really does wreck the book and makes you wish Hotei publications had managed such a project. Nb For those who have not seen many ukiyo-e, they are not blurry in the slightest in real life (even the very early ones, and these are mainly very late period prints) - they are prints from precision-sculpted, hand-carved hard woods, although their block colours do degrade at different rates if they have been light-exposed. In other words, the buck stops at the reproduction not the source.

Bizarrely, the smaller, matchbox-sized reproductions of works are as universally over-processed to an opposite ridiculous degree! They are sharpened and colour and contrast boosted to the extent that all detail is lost, as if in Photoshop they had repeatedly applied the same filter without looking at the distorted results (as previous reviewer speculated, this is to indicate the colours before their light-exposed fading over the years). The smaller, reduced images would have required much less to no processing, whilst the blurry larger ones were crying out for some careful work. In both cases throughout this book, they have done the exact opposite to what was needed for clear viewing, and in neither case are we seeing anything like what the artist intended for us to enjoy.

The range of material is excellent, occasionally much too small and typically weird and wonderful from the Japanese of yesteryear but given their abysmal sub-amateur photographic and reproduction treatment it only adds to the disappointment.

I echo the previous reviewer's comments. When I first flipped thru the pages, I was very surprised by how small the images were and how many were squeezed onto a page. This book contains a wonderful collection of prints - it's a shame they aren't reproduced at a size that would be more accessible. I uploaded an image of a page with FIVE prints squeezed on it so that you can see what I mean. I too would have been happy to pay much more for a larger volume - probably twice the height would be necessary.

I was somewhat confused by the presentation of the Eimei Nijuhasshuku series (one of the main reasons that I purchased the book). The prints are shown one to a page, with a large image occupying most of the page and a smaller, usually more vibrantly colored, identical image next to it. There is no explanation given as to why there are two images of each print. Is the larger one a true image of an actual print? Is the small one a retouched version that is supposed to show what the print colors would have looked like when first printed? I uploaded an image of one of the pages to show you.

I also found the use of the "F" word in print descriptions to be a bit gratuitous. I liberally use it myself in exclamations and retorts, but I think some other word would have sufficed here in many cases.

Excellent assortment of images and insightful commentary, but the images are often so small you'll need a magnifying glass to see the details. I would gladly have paid more to see the images at a decent size and some fold outs for the tryptychs. But for the price, the book is still a good value.

This certainly is a unique collection of images. I've seen a couple of Japanese books that compare, but this is the only cheaply-priced, English-language book of its kind, for sure.
I must confess I don't see anything wrong with the reproduction of the images as mentioned in other reviews, but maybe they have super-vision. Probably if this were a $100 art book you'd expect it to be bigger, but for this price, and 250 full-color pictures, it rocks. This is an introduction to an incredible hidden world which you can certainly pursue in greater depth if you want to start buying imported art books from Tokyo.
My guess regarding the reason for showing two versions of the pictures is just to show the range of variations. These are not fixed artworks, they are prints made from woodblocks and each printer would have used different coloured inks, and each image was probably generated countless times from the same blocks.
If you like ero-guro manga, this is where it all started.

This book is amazing. If you are looking for an insight into the world of brutality/sex/blood in ancient Japan, this is the book for you! I wish that it was bigger, but, still, it is adequate enough that you can see the amazing art and read the very good descriptions of what is happening in each piece. I am thrilled to now have a copy of this in my library. If you are no openminded, I would not suggest this at all, as it does touch on fetishism, rape, torture, bestiality, and many other things that most people can't seem to stomach. If you want to educate yourself on these things and how they were seen in Japan, and you can appreciate history and art, do yourself a favor and get this book.