A Tale of Two Balconies

This cleverly designed book about Katsushika Hokusai’s The Sazaidō of Gohyakurakanji and James McNeill Whistler's Variations in Flesh Colour and Green - The Balcony, also includes drawing, collage, coloring and press-out activities.

With a presentation that divides the book into two equal parts, A Tale of Two Balconies investigates the elements that make each of these artworks—both in the collection of the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution—unique. Exploring the depicted locations of each (in Edo Japan and Victorian England) enables deeper insight as the authors examine the idea of the balcony itself as a construct at once both private and public – creating a view and juxtaposing the different cultural domains both within and beyond the balcony railing.

This stunning book is double-fronted, so readers can begin reading from either side. A carefully-designed centre section includes immersive creative activities in which readers actively engage with the themes of perspective and recollection through their own art-making activities – collage, drawing, colouring, or building a pop-out Hokusai diorama and Victorian Whistler toy theatre.