A Tale of Two Balconies

"A visually appealing, playful, and thought-provoking book about Katsushika Hokusai's Sazai Hall at the Temple of the Five Hundred Arhats and James McNeill Whistler's Variations in Flesh Colour and Green - The Balcony. With a mirrored presentation that divides the book into two equal parts, A Tale of Two Balconies explores what makes each of these artworks unique. The text examines the circumstances of production and the particularity of their depicted locations in Edo Japan and Victorian England. The authors also explore the balcony as a construct that is at once both private and public. It creates a view, that allows one to visualize and juxtapose different cultural domains both within and beyond the balcony railing. These images are also immersive for the viewer, as they are tacitly included as part of the group of figures depicted within the scene"--