Kimono as Art: The Landscapes of Itchiku Kubota (Hardcover)

~ Dale Carolyn Gluckman (Author), Hollis Goodall (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The first major book on Japanese textile artist Itchiku Kubota, published to accompany a touring exhibition.

This lavishly illustrated book showcases fifty-five masterworks by Japanese kimono artist Itchiku Kubota (1917-2003). Initially determined to unlock the secrets of dyed and painted Japanese textiles of the fourteenth to early seventeenth centuries, Kubota ultimately invented a unique method of decoration. His work combines stitch-resist and ink drawing with a complex layering of color to achieve hauntingly beautiful landscapes with richly textured surfaces and an impressionistic rendering of nature never before seen in the textile arts.

Although Kubota produced kimono for Japanese celebrities, his primary endeavor was the creation of a series of monumental kimonos intended only for display. Mount Fuji, Universe, and the thirty-four-piece Symphony of Light are his most important series. The latter two are intended to be shown sequentially, much like the panels of a Japanese screen or decorated sliding doors. This entirely new approach to the use of the kimono as a vehicle for pictorial imagery has enabled Kubota's work to reach beyond the traditional boundaries of the single garment and elevated his work to installation art.

This book accompanies a touring exhibition and features essays by Dale Carolyn Gluckman, Asian textile specialist and former costumes and textile curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Hollis Goodall, curator of Japanese art at LACMA, as well as an interview with Mr. Kubota's son and artistic heir, Itchiku Kubota II, by Derrick Cartwright, Director of the San Diego Museum of Art. 200 color illustrations.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson (November 27, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500976856
• ISBN-13: 978-0500976852
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 9.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #215,957 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Silk Masterwork, December 16, 2008

By	K. Coombs (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Years ago I was visiting the East coast and saw a book about Itchiku Kubota's landscape kimonos at a friend's house. It affected me so much that I tried to get my hands on a copy, but the exhibit was over, and the book was gone, too. My friend made colored copies of some of the kimonos in her book and framed them for me as a birthday present. Some years later, when tracking down out-of-print books became easier, I again tried to get my hands on the book, but could only find an earlier one that didn't include the landscapes.

So when I idly googled Kubota again this fall and found out that a new exhibit had prompted a new book, a summary of his life's work, I was thrilled. Kimono as Art: The Landscapes of Itchiku Kubota is mine, all mine, and the work is just as beautiful as I remembered!

Kubota's magnum opus consisted of two phases: first, he spent 20 years refining a technique inspired by sixteenth-century dyed silk. Then he set about creating a series of landscapes representing subtle variations of the seasons and even times of day--he called it Symphony of Light.

This book shows each kimono both as a whole and in close-up. It also tells Itchuku Kubota's story, one which has the air of a fairy tale about it: the hero's quest. It's not always easy to grasp the powerful sense of being driven that can be an artist's companion in life, or the effort involved in creating, not just one work, but a lifetime's worth of work, especially when much of that work is truly a single work consisting of many linked pieces. There's a silken beauty to the life, the individual work, and the conjoined life's work, each a thing of light and shadow that can speak to those who are willing to see.

I am so very pleased to own this book!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Highest Textile Art, January 7, 2009

By	Lucilla Warren (Santa Barbara, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Kubota's kimonos must stand on the highest pinnacle of textile art. Each one is masterpiece from the overall concept to the perfect detail work that brings that concept to life. This book gets as close to seeing them in person as all of the books of his work that I've seen so far. The pictures show each kimono (in this exhibit) with many of the details - as well as showing how Kubota made them. Ms. Gluckman's text is lucid and engaging. If you were not able to make it to San Diego (or Ohio) for this spectacular show, this is the next best thing!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Textile art at its finest, December 20, 2008

By	S. Smith - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

OH MY... talk about major eye candy. If you like textiles, and if you like, art, you're going to be amazed. There is a museum dedicated to the late Itchiku Kubota in Japan, and clearly with good reason. Using dyes and threads, Kubota used the kimono form as his canvas. the series of landscapes continue the picture from one kimono to another in this visual feast. At the back of the book there is a brief description of how Kubota used shibori (a traditional Japanese method for resist-dyeing...for more information on the how's, check any book by Yoshiko Wada) as well as a timeline of his life.

I bought this volume sight unseen as a gift for my 90 year old mom who lived in and fell in love with Japan in 1946 and 47. I will have a hard time parting with it.... the quality of the photography does justice to the phenomenal art and vision in Kubota's artwork.