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Project Highlights: Samurai Armor

Ed Marquand

Few art forms are as universally popular as Japanese samurai armor. Graphic, bold, refined, and theatrical, this exquisitely crafted material has inspired designers and artists for centuries. From Yoshitoshi, the father of modern Japanese manga style, to George Lucas’s iconic Star Wars costuming, its influence is thoroughly integrated into our cultural aesthetic.

Marquand Books produced English and French editions of Art of Armor: Samurai Armor from the Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Collection. Published in association with Yale University Press, this 320-page book showcases more than 300 images. These illustrations allow readers to see the intricacies of samurai armor, and captions include the weight and measurements for each piece. Jeff Wincapaw of Marquand Books designed the book, and Brad Flowers photographed the work. Essays were written by John Anderson, Ian Bottomley, Sachiko Hori, Gregory Irvine, Eric Meulien, Morihiro Ogawa, John Stevenson, and Stephen Turnbull; Bernard Fournier-Bourdier authored the catalogue entries.

The Barbier-Mueller collection is currently on display at the Musée du quai Branly in Paris until the end of this month. The show then opens in April at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Quebec and will be on view until January 2013. In Dallas, the Barbier-Muellers renovated a former Catholic school into a handsome museum, where the collection will be permanently housed.