The Cincinnati Art Museum has acquired an extraordinary collection of 800 rare 17th–20th century Japanese prints from the late Joel Weisman and his wife Bernice Weisman. Announced at a museum donor event on Jan. 11, the Weisman gift is one of the largest permanent collection additions in the museum’s history.

The Weisman acquisition further strengthens the museum’s Japanese holdings and represents a broad spectrum of artists across the history of Japanese printmaking. The collection spans four centuries and includes colorful Edo and Osaka ukiyo-e woodcuts, shin hanga (new prints) and sōsaku hanga (creative prints). Thematically, the prints represent fine examples of bijinga or beautiful women, theatrical prints of actors, literature and legend, landscape, bird prints and surimono (privately printed prints).

Selections from the Weisman collection will be featured in the upcoming special exhibition "Dressed to Kill: Japanese Arms & Armor". In 2006, the Weismans donated 82 prints, which were featured in the exhibition "Public Spectacles, Personal Pleasures: Four Centuries of Japanese Prints from a Cincinnati Collection."