This collection is a three-volume facsimile edition in large folio format of the complete catalogues of the series of 6 major exhibitions of Ukiyoe Hanga, Japanese woodblock prints, held in Paris over the period 1909 to 1914. Organized chronologically from the early Ukiyoe period of 17th century through to the 19th century, the exhibitions featured more than 2,300 works by around 130 Japanese artists. They were selected from 66 collections of reputed art critics, such as R. Kœchlin, artists, including H. Rivière and R. Collin, art dealers and many connoisseurs of Japanese art as well as Musée du Louvre and Musée des Arts Décoratifs which widely covered the prints by minor but important artists as well as famous names like Sharaku, Hokusai, Utamaro, Hiroshige. No such exhibitions in the subject both in scale and in comprehensiveness have ever been repeated. The catalogues, reprinted here complete for the first time, include around 1060 black and white plates and 60 in colour. They were originally published each year of the exhibition in limited numbers, 100-130 copies only, and are not easily accessible in libraries, both in Japan and in the West. Ukiyoe is a key aspect of Japonism, and the reception of Japanese arts in the Western culture is now studied extensively. These catalogues will provide an extensive source for scholars and researchers of the history of Japanese art, the history of modern art, impressionism and the history of print.
