Ukiyo-e Wall Art

What's in the collection

Ukiyo-e, pictures of the floating world, was the popular woodblock print of Edo-period Japan. A carved keyblock printed the black outline, and further blocks laid each flat color on top, one at a time. The prints here are newly drawn rather than cut in wood, but they keep that logic: a firm outline around every shape, color held in flat areas, gradients used only across a sky or a stretch of water, and texture made from repeated marks such as curling foam, scales or overlapping arcs. Many of the original landscapes were souvenirs of famous views along the roads of Japan, an early ancestor of travel wall art.

One house style

Flat color and a strong outline make these prints read clearly from across a room, and they hold up well at large sizes on canvas. They sit comfortably beside the faded palettes of vintage wall art and the louder color of retro wall art, since all three rely on printed flat color rather than painterly blending. The broader subject range lives in our Japanese wall art.

Sizes, paper and framing

Every design is offered on archival matte paper and on matte canvas, either stretched on a wooden bar or set in a solid wood floating frame in white, black, espresso or natural. Size options are listed on each product page, including A-series sizes for European frames where the format allows. Printed with pigment-based archival inks, rated to resist fading for decades indoors.

Questions about ukiyo-e wall art

What does ukiyo-e mean in ukiyo-e wall art?

Ukiyo-e translates as pictures of the floating world, the name for the woodblock prints popular in Japan from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century.

Are these ukiyo-e wall art prints hand-carved woodblocks?

No. They are new designs drawn in the woodblock style and printed to order with archival pigment inks.

What size ukiyo-e wall art works on canvas?

The flat color holds up well at large sizes, so canvas suits the bigger formats. The wall art size guide lists what each size measures.