A Landmark Exhibition of Woodblock Prints in Collaboration with the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art
In a historic exchange marking the 250th anniversary of the United States, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art is sending 130 rare woodblock prints and photographs to Japan. Many of these works are part of the world-renowned Robert O. Muller Collection in Washington, D.C. Muller, a pivotal art dealer, spent decades assembling an archive of 4,500 pieces that introduced the Japanese “new print” movement to the American public. The exhibition serves as a tangible record of how American stewardship helped preserve these delicate works during the 20th century.
The collection explores the twilight of the woodblock tradition — a period when artists adapted to the rise of photography by experimenting with light and shadow. You can see this evolution in the work of Kobayashi Kiyochika, whose kosen-ga (light-ray paintings) abandoned traditional bold outlines to capture the soft, atmospheric effects of dawn, fire and gaslight. This technical foundation was later refined by Kawase Hasui, who mastered complex over-layering and color gradation to evoke the depth of Japanese landscapes. By placing these prints alongside early Meiji-era photographs, the exhibition illustrates how the two mediums influenced one another.
