The Japanese Woodblock Prints Companion

The complete resource on Japanese woodblock printing

Japanese woodblock prints, exemplified by iconic works such as Hokusai's Great Wave, Utamaro's portraits of beauties, Hiroshige's Heavy Rain on Ohashi Bridge, and Kuniyoshi's tattooed warriors, represent one of the most influential art forms in history. While the artists behind these masterpieces are celebrated worldwide, the many others who played crucial roles in their creation, style, and distribution have long remained overlooked.

Publishers were the driving force behind the highly commercial world of Japanese printmaking. They evaluated market demand, commissioned designs from artists, and assumed the financial risks of production. Once a design was completed, the publisher coordinated every step of the process: obtaining censor approval, hiring block carvers and printers, and overseeing the distribution of prints to specific audiences.

The Japanese Woodblock Prints Companion explores this collaborative production process and highlights the indispensable contributions of publishers, carvers, and printers-without whom many celebrated works, later admired by Western artists such as Monet, Van Gogh, and Toulouse-Lautrec, would never have existed.

Andreas Marks' book profiles more than 1,900 publishers and nearly 900 carvers and printers, includes publication lists for almost 1,000 artists, and reproduces thousands of publisher, carver, and printer seals, covering a period from the 1640s to the 1990s. Each entry documents places of operation, active periods, clientele, and issued print series, offering insight into professional status, favored collaborations, and distinctive working strategies. Lists of censor and collector seals further enrich the reference.

With over 1,000 pages of detailed information, this companion is an essential resource for scholars and collectors and a comprehensive tribute to the often-unsung figures who shaped the history of Japanese woodblock prints.