Once neglected in the West, Japanese basketry now claims a loyal following among art lovers, collectors, and craftspeople in the United States and Europe. Japanese Bamboo Baskets: Meiji, Modern, and Contemporary acknowledges this growing interest by presenting a stunning array of the best baskets to come out of Japan in the last 150 years. The authors - both Japanese experts in the field - have selected superb examples from private and museum collections throughout the world. They focus on the breathtaking works by the masters of the traditional form - Rokansai, Shokosai, and Chikuunsai - as well as those of the leading contemporary artists, whose groundbreaking sculptural pieces are attracting ever-greater attention from the international art community.
Japanese Bamboo Baskets frames the pieces in a wealth of newly written material, beginning with a Foreword by pioneer collector Lloyd Cotsen. Masanori Moroyama, in-house bamboo expert at the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, contributes a compelling history of this forgotten art, while spokeswoman for the artists Masami Oguchi provides potent insights into the artists and their works. A trio of interviews with top artists, as well as essays by other voices in the field, round out the volume.