Posted by Dr Richard Illing on May 21, 1997 at 19:16:04:
In Reply to: Re: compilation posted by dmatland on May 21, 1997 at 00:37:33:
: :
: : : Is there a book which lists and depicts all known japanese woodblock prints?
: : No! This is part of the fun and the frustration of Japanese prints. So many were produced by so many artists that, especially for the most popular artists, no more than partial 'catalogues raisonees' have been produced and those minor artists, whose works have been, apparently, fully documented, can be numbered on the fingers of the proverbial left hand.
: Kodansha publishes a series of books, each one featuring the print collection of a single museum. The last time I checked there were thirteen volumes,(each one list priced at about $350}. While that series still would not incorporate all wood-block prints, over a dozen museums should be fairly comprehensive. Unfortunately, I've never been able to locate a library with the books. On the other hand, major Universities often have good art-reference libraries. For example, the University of MD, College Park, has a quantity of volumes on ukiyoe.
That is rather what I mean! Kunisada alone, admittedly one of the best recorded and most prolific artists, has been estimated to have produced over 20,000 prints during his career (Ref Izzard,S. Kunisada'a World, London 1993) and Hiroshige cannot be far behind. The three volumes of the catalogue of the Tokyo National Museum list a mere 3926 prints. Even your thirteen volumes would nor even scatch the surface of what was produced from Moronobu's day in the mid seventeenth century up to the present.