Making Waves: The Art of Japanese Woodblock Print

Making Waves: The Art of Japanese Woodblock Print is running at York Art Gallery from 27 February to 30 August 2026. It's a substantial show, with over 100 works on display, and it covers more than 300 years of woodblock printing, from the 17th century right through to the 21st. The bulk of it sits in the 18th and 19th centuries, so you'll see the art at its most famous peak alongside how it started and where it's gone since.

Among the big names are Hokusai, Hiroshige and Utamaro, and the headliner is Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa, on loan from Maidstone Museum. It's not just prints, either. There's a full set of samurai armour, printed books from the British Library, and kimonos from the Durham Oriental Museum. To bring it up to the present, the exhibition includes work by contemporary artists Rebecca Salter and Laura Boswell, so you can see the tradition continuing rather than just looking back at it as a closed chapter.

If you want more than just a walk-through, there's a regular programme running alongside. Every first Wednesday of the month, there's a talk in the exhibition gallery from 12:00 to 12:30 — no booking needed, and it's included in your entry. There are also interactive guided workshops for over-16s, so you can get a bit more hands-on with how it's actually made. Towards the end of the run, on 29 and 30 August, the gallery is holding a closing celebration.

Entry to the exhibition is included in the general admission for York Art Gallery, so you'll need a museum ticket to get in. It's open through the summer, from 27 February to 30 August 2026, so there's plenty of time to fit it in.