Kokeshi: Wooden Treasures of Japan; by Michael Evans and Robert Wolf. 232 pages, 224 color plates. Published by Vermillion Publishing, April 2, 2005. ISBN: 0-9759570-0-7. List price: $59.95. FREE SHIPPING for single orders within the United States. All other orders please request a shipping quote for your specific location. For retailers and quantity orders please contact us for a wholesale price, packing and shipping quote.

Michael Evans and Robert Wolf,  Kokeshi: Wooden Treasures of Japan, a Visual Exploration (Vermillion Press: Carmel, California, 2005)

Kokeshi: Wooden Treasures of Japan, a Visual Exploration by Michael Evans and Robert Wolf is a visually exciting and intellectually engaging exploration of a charming aspect of Japanese folk art called Kokeshi. Kokeshi are a traditional wooden (lathe or hand-carved) doll that appeared in the late eighteenth century or early nineteenth century as a toy, and later became tourist wares. Formally, they are abstracted anthropomorphic figures (either elongated and elegant, or squat and sweet) and as toys-cum-tourist treasures, they showcase the Japanese talent for nuanced decoration, paired with graphic rendering of human characteristics – all accomplished with a delightful economy of means. Conforming to conventions of shape and content  - with sparks of innovation present in the more contemporary work - these beguiling toys have not received the academic attention they deserve and this dazzling book is the first in English to provide systematic information, as well as an informative (and stunning) visual record. [Continued]

—Martha Drexler Lynn Ph.D., former associate curator of decorative arts at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the author of many books on twentieth-century decorative arts.