Information technology and museums: The web site of the Japanese graphic of the XVIII-XIX centuries from the collection of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts is launched

The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts opens an electronic gallery of the most extensive in Russia collection of the Japanese graphic of the XVIII-XIX centuries. Most of these items were previously closed to the public, but now they are available to Internet users worldwide at www.japaneseprints.ru in three languages – Russian, English and Japanese.

The specialists took two years to digitize and describe 700 best works of the Japanese prints from the collection of the Museum. The peculiarity of the electronic catalogue is in ultra-precision image transmission, which allows us to consider every item in detail. Most of the collection consists of prints, made in the technique of color woodcut and relating to the direction of ukiyo-e.

According to the head of the graphics department of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts Ainura Yusupova, "the collection is so vast that it is impossible to entirely imagine it in the Museum, as well as other image collections of the Museum. This directory will greatly contribute to the promotion of Japanese art. It will be useful to all - both fans of Japanese culture, and fans of prints, and professionals".

The electronic catalog contains a detailed description of the collection: In addition to information about the author and the date, you can find data on the media, paper, publisher, carver, censor, and origin prints. The works can be grouped by genre and artists, historical periods, dynasties and series. Engravings are selected in accordance with the popular genres, adopted in the art of ukiyo-e: theatrical print, images of beauties, warriors, sumo wrestlers, landscape painting, flowers and birds.