Japan a Record in Colour

About this book

A lantern glows in a narrow street, silk robes fill a room and sunlight falls across temple roofs. Mortimer Menpes painted the Japan he encountered in a series of rich colour studies, accompanied by Dorothy Menpes's observations.

The book follows urban scenes, gardens, religious buildings and everyday rituals at a time when Japan was changing rapidly. Its painted views are beautiful but also unmistakably shaped by a visiting outsider's gaze. They preserve glimpses of colour, architecture and street life that photographs of the period often render very differently. It is a travel book to spend time looking through.