Money, Trains, and Guillotines

"Money, Trains, and Guillotines is the first extended study of art and activism in Japan during the 1960s, and as such it constitutes a major contribution not only to the history of Japanese art and politics but also to our knowledge of activism in the 1960s." - Thomas LaMarre, author of The Anime Machine: A Media Theory of Animation

"The annual Yomiuri Indépendant exhibition, the Hi Red Center group, and the ¥1000 Note Trial are surely among the most significant avant-garde initiatives anywhere in the world in the 1960s. This stunning study assesses the oppositional politics of these and other Japanese avant-garde undertakings by probing deep into the history of that which they opposed: the arrogation of power by the postwar Japanese state over everyday life. In William Marotti's hard-hitting theoretical analysis and accessible prose, the seemingly nonsensical antics of avant-gardists become occasions for grasping fundamental truths about the political makeup of postwar Japanese society." - Bert Winther-Tamaki, author of Maximum Embodiment: Yoga, the Western Painting of Japan, 1912–1955

“Marotti's detailed analysis of the Japanese artists' evolution from surrealist sensibility to interventionist action contributes immensely to our understanding of how the political aesthetic so characteristic of the 1960s emerged simultaneously in numerous countries…. A vivid, highly informed and richly rewarding investigation of art and politics under post-1945 capitalism in Japan.” - Justin Jesty, Art in America

“William Marotti explicates the social and political context of the Yomiuri Independent avant-garde. . . . [A] remarkably detailed and vivid view of the activities of Akasegawa and his circle.” - Mark Schilling, Japan Times

“[An] innovative, carefully crafted interdisciplinary history of the cultural origins of Japan’s 1968. . . . Appropriate to its rich and diverse visual subject matter, it is also beautifully illustrated and produced. Its provocative interrogation of conventional scholarly boundaries of discipline, chronology, narrative, and ontology, at the level not only of theory but also of practice, suggests a kinship with the efforts of the artists whose story it so carefully and sympathetically excavates.” - Ethan Mark, American Historical Review

“None of these art interventions documented in Money, Trains and Guillotines are fully understandable without the background of the politics of the time, and the author skillfully presents both art and politics, focused and interwoven. Author William Marotti's twenty-year effort has produced a fine book.” - Mike Mosher, Leonardo Reviews

“Visual scholars will find the book to be a solid and important contribution to the literature on the Japanese avant-garde, and it will also appeal to visual researchers interested more broadly in social movements and resistance.” - Daniel Garrett, Visual Studies

“This challenging volume by historian Marotti (UCLA) addresses the important topic of domestic artistic resistance to the Allied occupation of Japan during the 1960s. . . . Recommended.” - T. S. Munson, Choice

"Marotti’s subtle readings of these texts, underappreciated in Japanese scholarship, make a strong case for their importance within art history. Money, Trains, and Guillotines not only fills in a major gap within English-language understanding of postwar Japanese art. Once translated into Japanese—which it should be, promptly—it should sharpen the discourse within Akasegawa’s home country." - Kenji Kajiya, Pacific Affairs

“William Marotti’s book is a landmark study of political art and the politics of artistic expression in contemporary Japan. . . . Marotti uncovers a fascinating, provocative, and sometimes-shocking history of political art. . ..  Marotti’s attention to detail and to the emotional life of his subjects is truly engrossing in the best traditions of microhistory. . . .  [T]his is a richly documented, thoughtprovoking, and marvelously sculptured piece of scholarship that will be immensely enriching for anyone interested in issues of constitutional freedoms, artistic expression, and the intersection of politics and the everyday in postwar Japan.” - Simon Avenell, Journal of Japanese Studies

"Marotti’s text is a major scholarly contribution to a growing body of literature on the postwar Japanese avant-garde. It models a compelling new approach to the subject that productively questions divisions between art, politics, and the everyday. ... The text will resonate with readers across academic disciplines, as well as with people interested in postwar Japanese arts, history, and social politics. In addition to scholars of postwar Japanese history and art history, researchers with interests in visual culture studies or in fields including the visual arts, music, and theater will find this book invaluable." - Miki Kaneda, Monumenta Nipponica