The MFA collection of Japanese prints is the largest and finest outside Japan. Made from the late seventeenth century to the beginning of the twentieth, Ukiyo-e prints document the urban popular culture of the early modern period and, later, the rapid industrialization of the Meiji era (1868–1912). In addition to Ukiyo-e prints, the collection is also rich in early Buddhist prints and works by modern and contemporary artists.
The Japanese Print Access and Documentation Project, begun in January 2005, will produce digital images and basic cataloguing of the entire collection, beginning with 20,000 images in the first two years. The results of the project will be continuously uploaded to the MFA online collections database as they become available. |
