The Japanese Print : An interpretation

The influence that Japan – as well as its culture and architecture – exerted on the celebrated American architect Frank Lloyd Wright is most evident in his own creations. Unlike his contemporaries in the United States who viewed European architecture as part of their heritage, Wright chose Japan and the Japanese culture as his aesthetic model. This influence was also reflected in his collections of art objects, sculptures and, above all, prints.

In 1906, he displayed his ukiyo-e woodblock print collection at an exhibition of Hiroshige's works held at the Art Institute of Chicago. He had begun constituting the prints a year earlier, during his first trip to Japan. As one of the pioneer collectors of such works in the West, and an astute art dealer, he immediately developed an interpretive theory which he published exactly 100 years ago – The Japanese Print: An Interpretation. The book became a fundamental reference work for experts and amateurs of Japanese art and for anyone seriously striving to understand Wright's architecture.

We are offering two versions of this book, published here in French for the first time, and not available in English: a French-language translation edition realized by Laurent Bury, and an English-language edition featuring the same text selections and presentation as in the 1967 reprint.