Printed to Perfection

Robert O. Muller can be considered the most important collector in the world of 20th century Japanese prints. He amassed over 4500 designs, tracing back the artistic developments of the past century to the Meiji period (1868-1912).
His holdings, now in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., include the finest possible examples of artists specialized in the portrayal of female beauty such as Hashiguchi Goyô (1880-1921), Itô Shinsui (1898-1972) and Torii Kotondo (1900-1976), the earliest and best works of the two major landscape artists Kawase Hasui (1883-1957) and Hiroshi Yoshida (1876-1950) as well as numerous works by other, less famous artists providing a comprehensive and fascinating overview of the Shin hanga ('New Print') movement.
Robert O. Muller's exquisite taste and critical attitude has resulted in a collection in the finest imaginable condition. The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of Art staged the first major exhibition from this collection in the months of November and December of 2004.
This catalogue accompanies the first exhibition from the donation to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of Art of over 4000 prints by the American collector Robert O. Muller, held November 6 2004-2 January 2005.

About the Author: Joan B. Mirviss is an expert and dealer in Japanese art, specializing in prints, paintings and contemporary ceramics. She received her M.A. degree in Japanese art history from Columbia University. She has lectured widely at museums and universities in the United States and Japan, and has contributed scholarly articles to numerous Asian art publications. She has also curated or assisted in the preparation of both international and US exhibitions of Japanese prints. In 2000 she curated an exhibition and authored the accompanying catalogue entitled Jewels of Japanese Printmaking: Surimono of the Bunka and Bunsei Era for the Ōta Memorial Museum of Art, Tokyo. In 1995 she curated the exhibition of the Frank Lloyd Wright surimono collection at the Phoenix Art Museum, and co-authored the accompanying catalogue The Frank Lloyd Wright Collection of Surimono (with John Carpenter). She is currently serving as a consultant to the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery with respect to the Robert O. Muller Collection.

Amy Reigle Newland has worked as a specialist editor and writer on Japanese woodblock prints for some fifteen years, with a particular interest in works of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In either and editorial and/or authorial role, her publications include Japanese Erotic Fantasies: Sexual Imagery of the Edo Period (2005), Printed to Perfection: Twentieth-century Japanese Prints from the Robert O. Muller Collection (2004), A Courtesan's Day: Hour by Hour (2004), The Commercial and Cultural Climate of Japanese Printmaking (2004), Kawase Hasui: The Complete Woodblock Prints (2003), Crows, Cranes & Camellias: The Natural World of Ohara Koson 1877-1945 (2001), Time Present and Time Past: Images of a Forgotten Master - Toyohara Kunichika 1835-1900 (1999), Heroes & Ghosts: Japanese Prints by Utagawa Kuniyoshi 1797-1861 (1998), and The New Wave: Twentieth-century Japanese Prints from the Robert O. Muller Collection (1993). The Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints (2005) is her most ambitious project to date, one which was coordinated from her home in rural New Zealand where she lives with her husband, son and flock of sheep.