To adapt John Donne’s famous phrase, no art form is an island, and Ellen Conant aims to confirm this by connecting the relatively isolated art-historical landmasses of the Edo period (1615–1868) and the Meiji period (1868–1912) via a volume of essays focused primarily on the time period 1840–90. Her purpose is to elucidate Meiji arts as part of a continuum of artistic experimentation and innovation during the nineteenth century. In her introduction, Conant asks readers to seek the essays’ “fundamental commonality” (2). These shared themes include an examination of novel art forms in the mid-nineteenth century, a consideration of enduring Edo-period cultural traits, and an investigation of classical and contemporaneous Chinese cultures reflected in Meiji arts. Yet, the suggestion of the complexities of Meiji artistic developments is the greatest unifying element. Challenging Past and Present moves away from the typical binary structure of Meiji studies that contrasts East and West, tradition and technology, and art and craft. While some of the ground covered will be familiar to Meiji scholars, there are also many details that should stimulate a multifaceted understanding of Meiji artistic cultures for both individuals new to the field of Meiji art history and specialists alike. Complementing this...