Page:The Surviving Works of Sharaku (1939).djvu/11



his book which describes and illustrates all of the works of Sharaku that are known to survive, was designed to accompany exhibitions at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The choice of impressions to be exhibited and the preparation of the text were undertaken by the undersigned committee of members of the Society for Japanese Studies each of whom individually desires to express appreciation of the characteristic generosity of Mrs. William H. Moore without whose aid adequate publication would have been impossible. Acknowledgement should also be made of the encouragement to undertake the work received from The American Council of Learned Societies through their award of five hundred dollars toward the preparatory cost of research, selection and photography.

It gives us pleasure to express our thanks to the museums and private collectors of America who have allowed the works of Sharaku in their possession to be examined and compared, and who have in every instance agreed to loan all that were chosen. A list of the provenance of the prints and drawings exhibited will be found on another page; and here need only be added a word of gratitude to Mr. Kihachiro Matsuki who for very little reward except that which is brought by a good conscience, has expended a great deal of his time in furthering the researches made for us in the theatrical archives in Tokyo. Our appreciation of the aid given by three other experts, Dr. Rumpf, Dr. Ihara and Mr. Kimura, is expressed in the prefatory essay.

The work of the two members of the Committee whose names appear on the title page has been invaluably assisted in its search of original Japanese sources by the representative of the Museum of Fine Arts and has been gone over with equal care in other ways by the Curator of the Buckingham Collection in Chicago.