If you have been meaning to catch 'Making Waves: The Art of Japanese Woodblock Print' at York Art Gallery, there is a little more time than first billed. The exhibition has been extended and now runs until 30 August, so you have the rest of the summer to fit it in. It has been on since 27 February, and the extension gives it a full run of more than half a year.
Every week we pick 🏆 the 5 best 🏆 things to do in York and send them to your inbox. Just one weekly email, no spam.
By submitting your email, you accept our Privacy Policy
The scale of it is the first thing worth knowing. It covers over 300 years of printing history, from the 17th right through to the 21st century, with the bulk of the attention on the 18th and 19th centuries when the medium really came into its own. There are more than 100 works on show, and the names are the ones you will recognise: Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Hiroshige and Kitagawa Utamaro. The centrepiece is Hokusai's 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa', on loan from Maidstone Museum, so it is a rare chance to see one of the most famous images in the world in person.
What makes the show more than a collection of prints is how much else has been brought in to give the work context. There are early printed books from the British Library, kimonos from the Durham Oriental Museum, and armour and swords from the Royal Armouries, alongside prints borrowed from the British Museum, the Ashmolean and Maidstone Museum. The contemporary side is just as strong: Rebecca Salter, President of the Royal Academy of Arts, shows work created with the Sato Woodblock Workshop in Kyoto; Scottish artist Laura Boswell has turned her prints on the North York Moors; and London-based Nana Shiomi shows her 2001 print 'HOKUSAI'S WAVE (Right) – Happy Carp' alongside the original woodblocks used to make it. There is work by York artist Lincoln Lightfoot too, which keeps the whole thing tied to the city.
The exhibition spills out of the building and into the Museum Gardens, where a new Japanese dry landscape garden, a karesansui, has been built from wood, stone and bamboo, complete with four spring-flowering trees. It is part of the wider Summer at York Art Gallery programme, which runs from 22 July to 30 August and fills the gallery with Japanese-themed activities, workshops and performances. The whole thing wraps up with a Closing Celebration on 29 and 30 August, 10am to 5pm, taking in everything from Mokuhanga printmaking and Kokedama to Jui Jitsu, Koto harp music, Taiko drumming and the Micklegate Choir. There have also been monthly talks on the first Wednesday of each month since April, with speakers including Dr Eleanor Jackson and Dr Helena Cox.
On the practical side, the exhibition is included in general admission, so there is no extra ticket to book. Adults are £8.50, children aged 5 to 16 are £5.10 and under-fives go free, and you can book ahead at yorkartgallery.org.uk. The gallery itself sits on Exhibition Square in a Grade II listed building that opened in 1882, and its permanent collection runs from 14th-century Italian panels to LS Lowry and David Hockney, so it is easy to make a full afternoon of it.
Published Date
31 July 2026
