Hiroshige

I have only seen a few works by either artist but love them.

Could you post the title/publisher/author etc of the book? it sounds good

are there any modern japanese artists we should look at?

I love Hiroshige prints. I fell in love with them a year or two ago and tried to figure out how to do wood-block printing. I made a quick attempt and set it aside.

Vivien; the Hiroshige book "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo" is by Henry Smith II and Amy Poster. Unfortunately not only is it my favourite art book, it's also the most expensive, at $85! But the reproductions are magnificent and very large- a full page each- and it's neatly arranged with interesting and informative accompanying comment in the page alongside. I cherish it and don't regret the expense a bit. Perhaps you'll find it cheaper somewhere; i got it from Amazon on the net. The book i've got on the Tokaido road series is very small and cheap.

I'm sorry, but i'm not really up on modern Japanese art and i'm certainly no expert on the subject anyway.

Vivien; i see we have the same favourite female artist!

thanks for that info

As you like Gwen John and Hiroshige i have a feeling you may also like my favourite film, Sansho the Bailiff (dir. Mizoguchi 1954), an exquisite and moving drama set in feudal Japan, with serene camerawork, lovely landscapes and painterly compositions. And a favourite book, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, which has elegant, delicate, fascinating (and sometimes snobbish!) observations on nature and ancient Japanese court life.

I'm from Wales by the way; don't be deceived by my name , which is in honour of the great director Kenji Mizoguchi. I need to fill out my profile.

both sound interesting

north,south, mid or border wales? I love Wales, my daughter went to Uni at Bangor which was brilliant as i could stay over and paint in Snowdonia and on the coast - bliss.

Mid-south-border Wales! Living half way between where i was born (Swansea) and raised (halfway up the border)- ie. near Brecon and facing the Beacons. Lovely spot, with canals, river and meadows and the hills of course. Snowdonia is my favourite area, though- especially round Beddgelert, Llyn Gwynant.

Kyffin Williams is an excellent Welsh landscape and seascape artist. His book The Land and the Sea is one i never tire of contemplating. Have you come across the recently rediscovered 18th century Radnorshire artist Thomas Jones, whose sketches of Naples buildings are remarkably fresh and modern? I'm also keen on the colourful work of Kevin Sinnott, contemporary South Wales artist who makes the valleys look more like the Mediterranean.

I haven't heard of Jones but love Kyffin Williams work. I saw a brilliant exhibition by, I think, Kim Atkinson of birds on the estuaries and Australia, at the big gallery on Anglesey a couple of years back and they were amazing. I must check the name.

Are you a painter?

I'm afraid not. I did a couple of drawings of birds and a copy of Constable's Stonehenge years ago, which were o.k and i gave as presents, but that was about my limit. I'm too much of an armchair spectator (apart from walking the dog).

I'm delighted you not only know but love Kyffin Williams. I don't think he's at all famous in England- despite his knighthood? A grand old master with great integrity, not trendy enough to get the deserved attention. The Turner prize certainly isn't his thing, that's for sure. I notice his more recent paintings show further mastery and development; a genuine craftsman who's honed and perfected his own style and technique over many years. A sort of equivalent to the late pared-down poet R.S.Thomas.

There's been a recent Jones exhibition in London- the Tate or the National, i can't remember. I almost cried when i looked at his miniature picture of a Naples wall, in the Cardiff exhibition! The simplest subject yet somehow astonishing. He's virtually the only person of note Radnorshire has produced.