Crossing the Sea ─ Essays on East Asian Art in Honor of Professor Yoshiaki Shimizu

Yoshiaki Shimizu, one of the foremost scholars of Japanese art history, taught at Princeton University for more than twenty-five years, during which time he trained many students who have become respected professors and museum professionals. Crossing the Sea gathers original essays by thirteen of these students, in honor of Shimizu's extraordinary career at Princeton as well as his teaching at other institutions and his work as curator of Japanese art at the Freer-Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C. Ranging in topic from premodern Buddhist, narrative, and ink painting in Japan and East Asia to modern and contemporary Japanese painting, prints, and popular visual images, these essays present innovative research that draws attention to remarkable works of Japanese art and their fascinating historical contexts and modern interpretations. Including reinterpretations of well-known works and richly developed accounts of their meaning and function in historical, religious, and cultural contexts, this volume also provides a state-of-the-field portrait of Japanese art studies today.

Gregory P. A. Levine is associate professor of Japanese art and architecture and Buddhist visual cultures at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of "Daitokuji: The Visual Cultures of a Zen Monastery". Andrew M. Watsky is professor of Japanese art history at Princeton University. He is the author of "Chikubushima: Deploying the Sacred Arts in Momoyama Japan". Gennifer Weisenfeld is associate professor of modern Japanese art history and visual culture at Duke University. She is the author of "Mavo: Japanese Artists and the Avant-Garde, 1905-1931".