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 Satō ma

ma 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