author
Edward Fairbrother Strange
1862–1929
Best known as a museum curator and writer on art, he helped introduce English-speaking readers to Japanese prints, lacquer, and design at a time when interest in Japanese art was growing fast. His books mix close looking with clear explanation, making specialist subjects feel approachable.
1 Audiobook
Tools and materials illustrating the Japanese method of colour-printing
by Edward Fairbrother Strange
About the author
Born in 1862 and active in Britain’s museum world, Edward Fairbrother Strange worked at what was then the South Kensington Museum, later the Victoria and Albert Museum. Records connected with the museum world describe him as an assistant keeper and later a keeper of woodwork, and also note his involvement with the Japan Society.
He wrote widely on art and architecture, including books in Bell’s Cathedral Series and studies of Japanese art such as Japanese Illustration and The Colour-Prints of Japan. Material from the Smithsonian also shows that he built a notable collection of reference material on Japanese prints, reflecting how seriously he studied the subject.
Strange died in 1929. Today he is remembered less as a novelist than as a lively guide to art, especially for readers curious about Japanese visual culture and the ways museums interpreted it in the early twentieth century.