A rare collection of Japanese woodblock prints known as kuchi-e has gone on display for the first time at the National Library of Australia.
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Used to illustrate Japanese novels and literary journals, kuchi-e, or "opening pictures", were used to complement the stories which reflected the tumultuous world of the Meiji period in Japan, from 1868-1912.
More than 150 works from 27 artists are on display in Melodrama in Meiji Japan, exquisite, detailed drawings that are filled with drama, tragedy and intrigue.
Exhibition curator Dr Gary Hickey said the Meiji period was a time of great upheaval in Japan with the transition of the country from a feudal society to an emerging western-style state.
"This upheaval was reflected in a dramatic change in people's lives," Dr Hickey said.
"Influenced by the West, this change was reflected in new literary forms and innovative means of reproducing images for published works."
Kuchi-e, a kind of literary frontispiece, were produced by artists using the traditional multi-colour woodblock print to produce illustrations that stressed the melodrama in the stories they accompanied.
The bulk of the exhibition comes from the collection donated by prominent Australian landscape architect Professor Richard Clough, the man responsible for much of the landmark landscape character throughout Canberra, who was fascinated by Japanese culture.
Between 2001 and 2014, Professor Clough donated more than 500 kuchi-e to the library. The collection dates from the late 1890s to the 1920s, and comprises works by more than 27 artists, making it one of the largest collections of its kind in the world.
"Richard was captivated by the Japanese experience," Dr Hickey said. "He studied Eastern landscape architecture before [the Second World War], and then fought in the Pacific. After the war he renewed his interest in landscape architecture and travelled to Japan.
"He told me he built up this collection because he wanted to keep his mind active in older age, and because he wanted to create a resource for scholars of Japanese art."
For Mayumi Shinozaki, senior librarian in the Japanese Unit, at the NLA, the exhibition is particularly poignant.
"The Edo period [which preceded the Meiji period from 1603-1868] was no time for women's emotions to be expressed, it was quite controlled, they were expected to be good mothers, good wives, nothing more," Ms Shinozaki said.
"In the Meiji period it became more acceptable for women to express their emotion, for those emotions to be recognised, and many of these prints reflect that."
Melodrama in Meiji Japan is on exhibit at the National Library of Australia until August 27, 2017. From 10am-4pm daily. Free. There are guided tours every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 10.30am. Meet in the foyer. There are also children's films and presentations planned in conjunction with the exhibition. For more information visit nla.gov.au
