Now You Can Download 2,500 Japanese Woodblock Prints from the Library of Congress

The digital revolutionhas long been in the works, and now, count The Library of Congress as one of the standard-bearers of making old, new. The Library’s comprehensive digitization project, makes public a store of facts, data, and history, previously collected in the stacks, full accessible online. The newest iteration of the project focuses on Japanese block prints from the 17th and 20th centuries.

According to the Library’s description, the foremost areas of the blocks include actors, women, landscapes, and views of Western foreigners. The prints are completely free, opening up access to the formerly paid format of the Library holdings to the general public, releasing an unlimited store of knowledge.

Describing the breadth of the available files, the Library’s webpage reads, “many schools, traditions, and genres are represented, notably surimono, privately distributed prints combining pictures and poetry, and prints from the Russo-Japanese and Sino-Japanese wars. However, the primary strengths of the collection are the Japanese art forms known as Ukiyo-e and Yokohama-e.”

Access all the Library of Congress’s collection of Japanese block prints on their website, here.

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