The development of Japanese printmaking is very closely tied to China. Japanese
graphic prints emerged in the middle of the 18th known as Ukiyo-e or “pictures of
the floating world.” These prints were created for a popular audience and are
characterized by their colorful, flat shapes, detailed imagery, and dramatic subjects.

The development of Japanese printmaking is very closely tied to China. Japanese graphic prints emerged in the middle of the 18th known as Ukiyo-e or “pictures of the floating world.” These prints were created for a popular audience and are characterized by their colorful, flat shapes, detailed imagery, and dramatic subjects. The Japanese water-based inks provide a wide range of vivid colors, glazes, and transparency. In the 19th Japanese printmaking shifted to landscape, most famously in the extensive series of Japanese landscapes by Hokusai and Hiroshige. By the middle of the 19th century Hokusai’s prints had traveled to Europe where they were very influential in the work of the Impressionists, as well as, printmakers like Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. This influence was known as Japonisme.