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A Japanese Art Journey: A Curator's Memoir of Paper Dolls, Woodblock Prints and Polka Dot Pumpkins (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9784805319901)
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Meher McArthur
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xEmbark on a fascinating journey into the rich and beautiful world of Japanese art! In this engaging memoir, Japanese art historian and curator Meher McArthur transports you into the extraordinary world of Japanese art -- from ceramics, swords, prints and textiles to Buddhist art, folk painting, contemporary art and animation. One artwork and one language lesson at a time, we follow McArthur as she unspools a compelling narrative of curiosity and inspiration, personal and cultural growth, with heartbreak and resilience. This book will provide avid art lovers new ways of seeing and understanding the power of art, not only to inspire but to illuminate one's place in the world. The author presents her art memoir in three parts: Discovering and Learning
Her story begins in Scotland, where, as a multiracial child, she is often painfully aware of being different. Encouraged by her Scottish father and Persian mother to embrace her global identity, she studies Japanese at Cambridge University, and finds an exciting job in Japan, where she falls in love with Japanese ceramics, calligraphy, Buddhist temples, textiles and flower arrangement. Just as she decides to make a career of Japanese art, her family foundation begins to crumble. Becoming a Curator
Though armed with a master's degree in Japanese Art, McArthur struggles to forge a career in Japanese art. Eventually, a brief job with a prestigious London art dealer leads to a museum position 6,000 miles away in California, where she begins her career as a curator. She organizes several exhibitions of traditional Japanese art -- folk paintings, arts related to sake, and the ceramics and calligraphy of a renowned Buddhist nun -- and learns the ins and outs of the museum world and donor relationships -- all while starting a family. Curating Beyond the Museum
After several years as a museum curator, McArthur embarks on a career as an independent Asian art curator. She raises a young child, and faces challenges finding a new professional direction, but the worlds of origami, contemporary art and anime show her new paths and enrich her professional and personal life in unexpected ways. In a story set over three continents, McArthur weaves individual works of art into her personal search for cultural identity, demonstrating the power of art to heal, inspire and unite people of different cultural backgrounds. Fall in love with Japanese culture, language and art as you follow Meher's journey from being a misfit, mixed-race child in Scotland, to a student in Japan and England, to a seasoned specialist in the United States. Peek behind the scenes with her as she shares experiences working with a rich variety of Japanese art in museums, galleries and more.
Author: Meher McArthur
ISBN-10: 4805319909
ISBN-13: 9784805319901
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Language: English
Published: 10/28/2025
Pages: 208
Format: Hardcover
Her story begins in Scotland, where, as a multiracial child, she is often painfully aware of being different. Encouraged by her Scottish father and Persian mother to embrace her global identity, she studies Japanese at Cambridge University, and finds an exciting job in Japan, where she falls in love with Japanese ceramics, calligraphy, Buddhist temples, textiles and flower arrangement. Just as she decides to make a career of Japanese art, her family foundation begins to crumble. Becoming a Curator
Though armed with a master's degree in Japanese Art, McArthur struggles to forge a career in Japanese art. Eventually, a brief job with a prestigious London art dealer leads to a museum position 6,000 miles away in California, where she begins her career as a curator. She organizes several exhibitions of traditional Japanese art -- folk paintings, arts related to sake, and the ceramics and calligraphy of a renowned Buddhist nun -- and learns the ins and outs of the museum world and donor relationships -- all while starting a family. Curating Beyond the Museum
After several years as a museum curator, McArthur embarks on a career as an independent Asian art curator. She raises a young child, and faces challenges finding a new professional direction, but the worlds of origami, contemporary art and anime show her new paths and enrich her professional and personal life in unexpected ways. In a story set over three continents, McArthur weaves individual works of art into her personal search for cultural identity, demonstrating the power of art to heal, inspire and unite people of different cultural backgrounds. Fall in love with Japanese culture, language and art as you follow Meher's journey from being a misfit, mixed-race child in Scotland, to a student in Japan and England, to a seasoned specialist in the United States. Peek behind the scenes with her as she shares experiences working with a rich variety of Japanese art in museums, galleries and more.
Author: Meher McArthur
ISBN-10: 4805319909
ISBN-13: 9784805319901
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Language: English
Published: 10/28/2025
Pages: 208
Format: Hardcover
By Meher McArthur
xMeher McArthur has decades of experience as an Asian art historian and curator specializing Japanese art. With degrees from Cambridge University and London University's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), she has served as Curator of East Asian Art at Pacific Asia Museum, Creative Director for the Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden, Academic Curator for Scripps College and Art and Cultural Director for Japan House in Los Angeles. She has also taught courses in Asian art at the University of Southern California, Scripps College and Claremont Graduate University. She regularly lectures and trains docents at various museums in Southern California. For over a decade, McArthur has curated exhibitions for International Arts & Artists (IA&A) including Washi Transformed: New Expressions in Japanese Paper and Kimono: Garment, Canvas, and Artistic Muse. She also curated the exhibition Shiki: The Four Seasons in Japanese Art at the Sturt Haaga Gallery at Descanso Gardens. She lives in Pasadena, CA. Pico Iyer is a British-born essayist and novelist who was educated at Eton, Oxford and Harvard. Since 1987, he has been based in Western Japan, while traveling everywhere from Bhutan to Easter Island and North Korea to Los Angeles. He is the author of fifteen books, including the bestsellers The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise (Penguin Random House, 2023), A Beginner's Guide to Japan: Observations and Provocations (Random House, 2020) and The Art of Stillness: Adventures In Going Nowhere (Simon & Schuster, 2014). He has been a constant contributor for more than thirty years to Time, The New York Times, Harper's Magazine, the Los Angeles Times and more than 250 other periodicals worldwide. He has written the introductions to more than fifty other books, as well as screenplays, librettos and many liner-notes for Leonard Cohen. He speaks regularly everywhere from West Point to Davos and Shanghai to Bogota, and his four recent talks for TED have received more than ten million views.
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