Books by Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Japanese Woodblock Prints 2020 Engagement Calendar

by Los Angeles County Museum of Art

The tradition of ukiyo-e, or pictures of the floating world, depicted Japanese contemporary life from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries in masterfully crafted woodblock prints. Artists such as Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige came to exemplify the style, which frequently featured the goings-on in society, idyllic visions of country life, and picturesque landscapes. By the mid-nineteenth century, Japan was nearing the close of its secluded, socially regimented, prosperous Edo period. This shift also brought the decline of ukiyo-e, though notable artists maintained its principles in the twentieth-century shin hanga, or new prints, movement.
The thirty-two prints in this calendar span roughly one hundred years of Japanese printmaking, both before and after this transitional moment for Japanese culture and art. The selection includes everything from world-renowned works such as The Great Wave off Kanagawa to quiet images of birds on branches, ducks amid grasses, and trees against the moonlight. Each is in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
All of Pomegranate s calendars are printed with soy-based inks on FSC® certified paper, which means the paper has been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council® and manufactured by an FSC certified printer. FSC certification promotes responsible forest management by ensuring that forestry practices are environmentally responsible, socially equitable, and economically viable.
FSC license code FSC N001864.

Hiroshige 2020 Wall Calendar

by Utagawa Hiroshige, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797–1858) was one of the last great masters of Edo period
ukiyo-e painting and polychrome printmaking. He created some of his most memorable and influential works during the 1850s, the final decade of his life. This period of productivity coincided with the end of shogun rule and the subsequent opening of Japan’s political and cultural borders to the West. Hiroshige’s works honor the past and the present, the timeless and the ephemeral.
The term
ukiyo is a reference to Buddhist belief about the transient nature of life, the “floating world” of living in the moment. In delicately hued
ukiyo-e images, Hiroshige evokes the human experience of the natural world—from Mt. Fuji’s permanence to the fleeting beauty of cherry blossoms in temple gardens.
This calendar showcases twelve of Hiroshige’s prints in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
All of Pomegranate’s calendars are printed with soy-based inks on FSC® certified paper, which means the paper has been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council® and manufactured by an FSC certified printer. FSC certification promotes responsible forest management by ensuring that forestry practices are environmentally responsible, socially equitable, and economically viable.
FSC license code FSC N001864.

Ohara Shoson 2020 Mini Wall Calendar

by Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Ohara Shoson

Ohara Shoson (1877-1945) was a master of Japan's shin hanga (new print) movement, which breathed new life into traditional ukiyo-e printmaking. The term ukiyo is a reference to Buddhist belief about the transient nature of life, the "floating world" of living in the moment. With their depth and delicacy, Shoson's elegant kacho-e (bird-and-flower prints) capture an owl at the instant of landing on a moonlit branch, the swirl of water around a paddling wood duck's feet, the alert stillness of a standing egret—the fleeting beauty of nature. The images presented here are from the extensive collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. All of Pomegranate's calendars are printed with soy-based inks on FSC certified paper, which means the paper has been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and manufactured by an FSC certified printer. FSC certification promotes responsible forest management by ensuring that forestry practices are environmentally responsible, socially equitable, and economically viable. FSC license code FSC N001864.

Black American Portraits From the Los Angeles County Museum of Art

by Los Angeles County Museum of Art

A celebratory visual chronicle of the many ways in which Black Americans have used portraiture to envision themselves

Published with Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Spanning over two centuries from around 1800 to the present day, Black American Portraitschronicles the ways in which Black Americans have used portraiture to envision themselves in their own eyes. Remembering Two Centuries of Black American Art, curated by David C. Driskell at LACMA 45 years ago, this book is a companion to the exhibition of the same name that reframes portraiture to center Black American subjects, sitters and spaces. This selection of approximately 140 works from LACMA's permanent collection highlights emancipation, scenes from the Harlem Renaissance, portraits from the Civil Rights and Black Power eras, multiculturalism of the 1990s and the spirit of Black Lives Matter.
Countering a visual culture that often demonizes Blackness and fetishizes the spectacle of Black pain, these images center love, abundance, family, community and exuberance. Black American Portraitsdepicts Black figures in a range of mediums such as painting, drawing, prints, photography, sculpture, mixed media and time-based media. In addition to work by artists of African descent, Black American Portraitsincludes several works by artists of other backgrounds who have exemplified a thoughtfulness about, sensitivity toward and commitment to Black artists, communities, histories and subjects.
Artists include: Alvin Baltrop, Edward Biberman, Bisa Butler, Jordan Casteel, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Bruce Davidson, Stan Douglas, rafa esparza, Shepard Fairey, Charles Gaines, Sargent Claude Johnson, Deana Lawson, Kerry James Marshall, Alice Neel, Lorraine O'Grady, Catherine Opie, Amy Sherald, Ming Smith, Henry Taylor, Tourmaline, Mickalene Thomas, James Van Der Zee, Carrie Mae Weems, Charles White, Kehinde Wiley and Deborah Willis.

We Live in Painting The Nature of Color in Mesoamerican Art

by Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Diana Magaloni Kerpel, Davide Domenici, Alyce de Carteret

Groundbreaking exploration of ancient techniques and cosmologies of color in Mesoamerica

Published with Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Ancient Mesoamerican artists held a cosmic responsibility. As they used color to adorn buildings, clay vessels, textiles, bark-paper pages, sculptures, textiles, wall murals, mosaics and other items, they quite literally made the world. The power of color emerged from the materiality of its pigments and the communities whose knowledge of the natural world imbued it with meaning. Histories of colonialism and industrialization in the "color-averse" West have minimized the profound significance of color in the Indigenous Americas. We Live in Painting provides an in-depth exploration of the science and art of color in Mesoamerica. This lavishly illustrated catalog, published as part of the PST ART series, follows two interconnected lines of inquiry--technical and material analyses, and Indigenous conceptions of art and image--to reach the full richness of color at the core of historical and contemporary Mesoamerican worldviews.