ABOUT THE PROJECT
The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, with the support of JT International, is pleased to present an electronic publication of Japanese prints from the 18th and 19th centuries from its Prints and Drawings collection. This Catalogue continues the tradition of providing internet resources about its most interesting collections of prints, so as to make available to the public works which are difficult to access, as they are not to be found in the Museum's displays. The basis for this electronic resource presented in this site is the catalogue raisonné by Beata Grigorievna Voronova, entitled Japanese Prints of the 18th and 19th centuries (2nd edition published in two volumes by "Krasnaya Ploshchad" [Red Square] publishers, Moscow, 2009). The data from that catalogue have been supplemented, new information has been added and also more precise translations of the titles of individual prints. Most of the works in the catalogue relate to the ukiyo-e school – pictures of the everyday life of the urban class in the Edo period.
This collection of Japanese art was one of the earliest and largest to make its way to Europe. Its core consisted of works collected by Sergei Nikolaevich Kitaev (1864-1927), the first major Russian collector of Japanese art. In 1916 S.N.Kitaev entrusted the collection to the Rumyantsev Museum for temporary storage. Later it was taken over by the Rumyantsev Museum and transferred as part of its prints and drawings collection to the Pushkin Museum. Further additions were made to the collection thanks to acquisitions from collectors, donations and gifts. The list of donors included scholars of art history (A.A.Sidorov, A.M.Efros), collectors (such as P.D.Ettinger) and the film director Sergei Eisenstein.
The works in this electronic catalogue are classified according to genre and artist. In addition the works can be grouped together according to their historical period, dynasty of artists, series of prints and so on. Organizing the information on the site in this way will be convenient both for print enthusiasts interested in Japanese art and also for specialists. The information presented electronically is in no way inferior to that provided in printed works and sometimes can significantly augment the latter. In the information provided on individual works it will be possible not only to find out details about the author and the date of the work, but also other data: the technique used, paper format, publisher, censor and provenance. The texts on the site are provided in three languages (Russian, English and Japanese), thus making possible international access to museum information, which is very important in the context of the modern world's globalization. Most of the prints are accessible for detailed viewing of high quality.
The general sponsor of this electronic Catalogue is the company Japan Tobacco International, which for many years now has been supporting the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts as it undertakes major projects using the Museum's Prints and Drawings collection, including support for the production of printed materials, gift editions of reproductions and large-scale electronic catalogues of British, Russian and now Japanese prints.
The high-definition and digital photographic reproduction of prints and the creation of this internet resource have been undertaken by the "Epos Group" company. Particular attention is paid by this company to subjects connected with cultural development and it has successfully carried out numerous projects, including those in collaboration with the Pushkin Museum.
Photos of a printing process ase provided by The Adachi Institute of Woodcut Prints© (Tokyo, Japan) http://adachi-hanga.com/. Сalligraphic inscriptions of the artistic dynasties are written by Ryūseki Morimoto (Osaka, Japan) especially for the site.
Website is under development and filling. Developers would be grateful for any proposals, suggestions and comments. We expect, the website will be interesting for those, who are inerested in japanese culture.
The specialists involved in the work on this Project were:
Author of the conception, curator of the collection
Aynura Yusupova
Content manager
Ekaterina Abramova
Authors of the articles
Beata Voronova
Aynura Yusupova
Technical director
Vladimir Opredelenov
Designer
Mikhail Ugolnikov
Designe adviser
Anastasiya Orlova
Translations
Kayo Fukuma
Katherine Judelson
Russian Translation Company
Literary editor
Yuriy Kotlyar
Programmers
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Yulia Valyaychikova
Technical editor
Yulia Buzina
High-precision digital photo:
Artem Beloborodov
Andrey Ershov
Sergey Losev
Dmitriy Losev
Vladislav Sheverdin
Digital processing of images:
Anna Shutova
Vladimir Kozub
Marina Beloborodova
Author is grateful to:
Oleg Antonov (The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts)
Ryūseki Morimoto (Osaka, Japan) for the calligraphic inscriptions of the artistic dynasties
The Adachi Institute of Woodcut Prints (Tokyo, Japan) for the photos of a printing process