A landmark survey showcasing spectacular Meiji-era Japanese art textiles from the world-renowned Khalili Collections, featuring over 300 remarkable silk treasures.
Visions in Silk presents the first comprehensive exploration of exquisite Japanese fine art textiles from the Meiji era (1868-1912), showcasing the unparalleled treasures from the Khalili Collection of Japanese Art.
This beautifully illustrated volume reveals how Japanese artists and craftsmen ingeniously adapted centuries-old textile traditions to create innovative art textiles that captivated international audiences, won exhibition awards, and served as prestigious diplomatic gifts.
Featuring over 300 spectacular examples, the book examines dazzling works of embroidery, yuzen resist-dyed silk and cut velvet, tapestry, and oshi-e raised silk, ranging from elegant panels, hangings and screens to grand exhibition showpieces. Each represents the pinnacle of artistic collaboration and hitherto unsurpassed technical mastery.
Written by leading international experts, this landmark publication provides unprecedented insight into these remarkable yet understudied treasures. Visions in Silk will enchant anyone interested in Japanese art, textile design, Japonisme, and the cultural transformations that occurred during the Meiji era, when Japan opened to the outside world.
Foreword by Professor Nasser D. Khalili, PhD, KCSS, KCFO
Founder of the Khalili Collections
1. Meiji 'Artistic Textiles'
Explores the historical context for the development of Meiji fine art
textiles, from the foundations of the sophisticated luxury textile industry
of Kyoto to the extraordinary artistic dialogue between Japan and nations
around the world.
2. Makers
Introduces the key makers of Meiji artistic textiles, including the
pioneering Tanaka Rishichi and top producers Nishimura Sozaemon (Chiso), Iida
Shinshi (Takashimaya) and Kawashima Jinbei. Includes new information on
lesser-known makers such as S. Nomura (Benten), Mitsui Gofukuten, Daimaruichi
and Aoki Embroidery, as well as the students of newly established girls
schools.
3. Sources of Inspiration
Looks at the subjects of Meiji textiles and the artistic sources that
inspired them, from Japanese traditional painting styles to European prints,
oil paintings and photographs. Essays by Japanese specialists Hirota Takashi
and Matsubara Fumi focus on Takashimaya textiles and the development of
embroidery designs.
4. Types and Techniques
Detailed study of the main types of Meiji artistic textiles, their background
and the techniques involved.
- Embroidery (with glossary of techniques)
- Yuzen resist-dyeing and yuzen-dyed cut velvet
- Silk tapestry weaving
- Oshi-e raised silk pictures
Appendices
1. Makers and Marks
Illustrated list of producing companies, embroiderers and designers
2. Additional Works
Textiles not included in the main catalogue
Bibliography
Dr Clare Pollard is Curator of Japanese Art at the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. She previously worked as curator at the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. Her research has focused mainly on ceramics and textiles of the Meiji era and she is co-author with Hiroko T. McDermott of Threads of Silk and Gold: Ornamental Textiles from Meiji Japan (2012). Threads of Silk and Gold was the first major exhibition of Meiji artistic textiles to be held in the UK. Luz van Overbeeke is a dealer, conservation manager, independent researcher and writer specialising in Japanese artistic textiles from the Meiji and Taisho eras. She is the owner of Gallery Talking Pieces, a gallery devoted to Japanese pictorial fine art textiles such as embroidery, yuzen cut-velvet, oshi-e and tsuzure-ori weaving of the late 19th- and early 20th-century. Dr Matsubara Fumi is Director of the Kitano Cultural Research Institute at the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine and previously worked as a research fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Japan and as a postdoctoral fellow at the Kiyomizu Sannenzaka Museum. She holds a doctorate in Meiji artistic textiles from Kyoto University and her book (Shish no kindai: yushutsu shish no nichi kryshi, 2021) is a pioneering study of the modern Japanese export embroidery. Professor Hirota Takashi is a leading scholar on late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Japanese fine art textiles and a pioneer in the field. He has published extensively on the production of the Takashimaya Company. His latest book is Takeuchi Seiho and Takashimaya: The intersection of art and industry (Takeuchi Seiho to Takashimaya, 2024). He is professor emeritus at Kyoto Womens University and has served as curator at both the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art and the Kyoto Municipal University of Arts.
