Japanese Prints, a Closer Look: The 20th Century

About the project

Since the early 20th century, the Rijksmuseum's collection of Japanese prints has grown to include over 5,000 Japanese prints, albums and illustrated books. The collection includes important works by famous artists such as Utamaro, Hokusai and Hiroshige from the Edo period. In 2022, the Rijksmuseum received a donation of over 1,100 20th-century Japanese prints, making the collection one of the most important in Europe. When acquiring and exhibiting Japanese prints, we always ask ourselves: What are we looking at? Are we seeing the original colors here or have these prints faded or changed color over time? How can color differences between different prints of the same print edition be explained? Are we dealing here with fading, with different editions, later coloring or overpainting? Because we do not yet know how to properly interpret the differences in color, it is also not clear at this time how this is affected by exhibition time, exposure to light, and method of storage.

Aim of the project

In this research we want to analyze with which dyes and pigments the Japanese woodcuts from the 20th Century in the Rijksmuseum collection were printed. We will also study what types of paper the prints were printed on; Did they use the traditional handmade paper or was machine-made paper and woodcut paper also used? We also examine the condition of the prints: Are the colors faded, or do they look as they did when they were printed? And: If they are faded, what did these prints originally look like? We would also like to know how to exhibit these prints as safely as possible.

In the first phase of this research (2024 and 2025), we were concerned with the prints made during the Edo period (1603-1868). In this second phase, we are investigating prints from the first half of the 20th century: The shin hanga (new prints) and the sosaku hanga (creative prints). In a next phase, we hope to examine prints from the Meiji period (1868-1912).

Partners and sponsors

This research is also made possible thanks to support from Metamorfoze, the National Program for the Preservation of Paper Heritage and the Bervoets Fonds.

This research involves collaboration with the National Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE), the University of Amsterdam.