SUMINAGASHI: The Japanese Art of Marbling: A...

SUMINAGASHI: The Japanese Art of Marbling: A Practical Guide by Anne Chambers (Thames and Hudson: $17.95; 80 pp.). Chambers offers a concise history, appreciation and explanation of the 900-year-old Japanese art of creating fragile, swirling patterns on paper that suggest eddies in streams, veins in stone or wind-blown clouds. Few readers will want to attempt the techniques she describes involving inks, fixatives and water baths, but anyone interested in Oriental aesthetics will appreciate the delicate, uncontrolled beauty of these designs.