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New Artbook Presents Japanese Illustrators' Takes on Classic Paintings

Japanese illustrators tend to work on things like video games, light novels, and commercial promotions, but that doesn't mean they can't take on "high art." As if to prove this point (or disprove it, if you prefer), 43 professional illustrators have drawn their own versions of classic artwork and collected them in an upcoming artbook, Eshi de Irodoru Sekai no Meiga ("The World's Masterworks as Drawn by Illustrators"; the English translation on the cover is Japanese Contemporary Illustration Artists Meets Old Master Paintings).

The art included within is primarily interpretations of European works, although Utamaro Kitagawa's ukiyo-e Young Woman Blowing a Glass Pipe is recreated with extra lace by Yama no Susume's original artist, Shiro. Each illustration has an accompanying paragraph explaining an aspect of the original painting. The first edition at Toranoana, Animate, Melon Books, or certain other stores will come with postcards reproducing some of the artwork within.

The artists included are:

• Akabane
• Hiyori Asahikawa
• Ataru
• Ech
• Gia
• Hebitsukai
• Yō Hibara
• Himegami Drop
• Rin Horuma
• ica
• Irorico
• Ison
• Issa
• Ken'ichi Iwamoto
• Sato Kamegoya
• Kina Kazuharu
• Kazune
• Kiyamachi
• kona
• lack
• Tatsuaki Minakami
• Miyoshino
• Sie Nanahara
• Nanahime
• Tsubasa Nanaki
• Takayoshi Nōgi
• Noki
• Nozomi
• Renta!
• Retumaru
• Sabamu
• Rokutaku Sakamoto
• Makoto Satōma
• Shigaraki
• Karuta Shiki
• Shiro
• totomo
• Hiro Usuda
• Uzuki
• Ofū Yamadori
• Airi Yoshioka
• Kihiro Yuzuki
• *zoff

Kina Kazuharu's twist on Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring

Ech's spin on Claude Monet's Woman with a Parasol

ica's take on Vincent Van Gogh's Sunflowers

Edouard Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergère

Henri Rousseau's The Snake Charmer

Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Dance at le Moulin de la Galette

John Everett Millais's Ophelia

A postcard of a reinterpretation of Vermeer's The Milkmaid

Melon Books' postcard, based on Sandro Botticelli's Primavera

The artbook goes on sale on May 26. For a look at what famous paintings would look like as potential boyfriends or girlfriends, see our article on Comical Psychosomatic Medicine.

Source: Comic Natalie