- Publisher
- Vintage Classics
- Published
- 1977 (first published 1933)
- Shelf
- culture: Japan
- ISBN
- 9780099283577
Japan
In Praise of Shadows
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki
An essay on what electric light took away, written in 1933 about lacquer, paper, gold and the toilet.
Why read it
Tanizaki's argument is that a Japanese aesthetic is built for dimness (lacquer designed to catch one candle, gold leaf to work in a dark room), and that lighting it evenly destroys the thing. It is the most precise writing there is on the difference between visibility and beauty.
Why own it
Forty pages, and it changes how you light a room, a set and a photograph. Small enough to re-read in an hour, and the book on this shelf most likely to change a decision you make this week.
Who it is for
Photographers, set designers, interior and product designers, anyone who controls light.
Opens a search on AbeBooks, a network of independent and antiquarian sellers, which is where a good part of this shelf has to be found, because it is out of print.
Read next
Chosen because they argue with this one, not because a machine noticed they share a category.
