Japanese engraving from the 18th-19th centuries in the collection of the National Art Museum of Moldova

The National Art Museum of Moldova keeps in its funds a collection of about 400 Japanese stamps, made in the 18th-19th centuries, this being one of the most numerous collections in the neighboring regions. These prints were acquired by the museum in the years 1973-1987 from private collectors and from some antique shops and private owners in Moscow. Two periods marked the evolution of Japanese engraving - the Ukiyo-e and Meiji eras, which identified the difference between medieval and modern Japan. Made in the color woodcut technique of the ukiyo-e (World in Motion) era, this technique saw its peak development in the Edo period (1614-1868), decisively influencing the development of painting and graphics. Famous representatives of this era were Kitagawa Utamaro, Utagawa Hiroshige, Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Kunisada. During the Meiji period or the Period of the Enlightened Kingdom (1868-1912), Japanese woodcuts reflect the social and historical modifications that took place in Japan, by changing the subjects and the motifs of the prints with scenes of gatherings, battles or processions, making the appearance of diptychs, triptychs and even polyptychs , which are dispersed in the museum collection, The most illustrious artist was Toyohara Chikanobu (1838-1912). In the West, Japanese engravings had a major influence on the subsequent developmental trend of European painting, being found in the works of Claude Monet or Vincent van Gogh, who were conquered by the fineness of shadow-light gradation. The art of the impressionists and post-impressionists had been transformed and it proved that simple themes from the daily life of the changing world could be presented in an attractive way.