New trade agreements beginning in the 1850s resulted in an unprecedented flow of travelers and goods between Japan and the West. Western appreciation for Japanese graphic art and objects quickly intensified and Japanese-influenced style irrevocably entered the lexicon of Western artistic expression.

The Edo Period of history saw Japan isolated from much of the rest of the world. Contact with Europeans was severely limited to a small Dutch enclave in Nagasaki called Dejima.

In 1854, the Convention of Kanagawa allowed for trade between Japan and the West. Artists like Edgar Degas, Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh began to collect ukiyo-e prints, or woodblock prints

Vincent van Gogh relied upon saturated colors and broad brushstrokes to evoke the inner turmoil of the artist

Japanese printmaking was one of Vincent’s main sources of inspiration and he became an enthusiastic collector.

Meggs History of Graphic Design By Philip B. Meggs, Alston W. Purvis

Printmaking, an art form consisting of the production of images, usually on paper but occasionally on fabric, parchment, plastic, or other support, by various techniques of multiplication, under the direct supervision of or by the hand of the artist.

The richly colored, visually dynamic woodblock technique perfected in Japan during the 18th and 19th centuries is known internationally by the Japanese term mokuhanga.

Japanism, also spelled Japonism, French Japonisme, aesthetic cult that had a major impact on Japonism,Impressionist painting.