Much Recorded War: The Russo-Japanese War In History And Imagery, A Published by MFA Publications, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Text by Sebastian Dobson, Anne Nishimura Morse, Frederic Sharf. At the dawn of the twentieth century, the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) became a worldwide political focal point. The war, marked the rise of Japan as a world power, paved the way for the Russian Revolution, and made Theodore Roosevelt the first American ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize. It engaged the fervent attention of Asia, Europe and the United States--so much so that the Milton Bradley Co. created a popular board game based on the war. But more than this, the Russo-Japanese conflict was the first war to be fully recorded by the international media. Journalists, photographers, and filmmakers poured into the areas, capturing the battles in words and visuals, and creating in the process a flood of images remarkable for their vibrancy and power. A Much Recorded War examines the Russo-Japanese conflict from the viewpoint of its artistic legacy, exploring the ways in which it was represented, promoted, and mythologized. Featuring more than 80 objects--from woodblock prints, lithographs, watercolors, and photographs to film, postcards, and even garments--the book discusses the origins and history of the war, the development of its imagery in Japanese art, and the groundbreaking role of photography and film. Published to mark the 100th anniversary of the Portsmouth Treaty, which ended the war, this is both a remarkable work of historical scholarship and a brilliant compendium of period graphic art.
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