Sotatsu

Elise Grilli

Assuming you're reading this in America, you've probably never heard of Sotatsu. That's okay. There are a few of his works in museums scattered across the country, and what little scholarship there is on him in English is long out of print. For example, there is this small book (literally a pocket book-- exactly the size of the back pocket in my jeans) by Elise Grilli, written at just about the time scholars were starting to find a number of anonymous works that could be directly linked to Sotatsu. An exciting time for an art historian, indeed. Despite that, Grilli's text (not a translated version of the Japanese version of the book, but completely new text for the American edition) stays on an even keel; there is an introduction to what little is known about Sotatsu's life, and the rest of the text is examinations of the paintings. As well it should be.

There could have been a bit more of the paintings themselves, but one assumes Kodansha were trying to keep the book thin (that whole pocket thing, you know), and it's a good overview, for what it is. If you chance upon a copy of this long out-of-print tome and you're a fan of Japanese art, it's well worth picking up.