temporary exhibition

Kazumasa Ogawa (1860-1929) was a pioneer in photomechanical printing in the Meiji era (1868-1912) when photography began to become popular in Japan. He printed and published many photomechanical materials. The photomechanical process is a method of mechanically reproducing a photo image that is printed in ink based on the photographic principle of negatives and positives. In Japan, this process began to be developed in the Meiji era, and became an essential part of the printmaking process in printing houses. In the Meiji era, long before the arrival of television and radio broadcasting systems, the standard form of mass communication media consisted of printed matter―newspapers, magazines, books―, and photographic illustrations played a significant role in the growing publication industry.
This exhibition introduces about 100 materials related to photomechanical printing, centering on the two types of the process introduced by Ogawa―collotype and halftone printing.