How to Frame a Japanese Woodblock Print (and Keep The Great Wave Blue)

London has a lot of Japanese art on view this autumn. Dulwich Picture Gallery's Hokusai: Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji from the Iuchi Collection runs until 17 January 2027 and is the first time the complete series, all 46 prints including the ten added after the original publication, has been shown together in the UK. It includes an impression of Under the Wave off Kanagawa, better known as The Great Wave, and a rare variant of Red Fuji. Meanwhile Asian Art in London runs until Tuesday 10 November, with dealers and auction houses across the city.

Two details on the Dulwich page caught our eye as framers. The gallery highlights Hokusai's use of the then newly introduced Prussian blue pigment. And it asks visitors not to bring wet coats, bags or umbrellas into the galleries, "to help protect these fragile works of art".

Fragile is the right word. Whether you own an antique print, a modern impression or a reproduction of The Great Wave bought in the gift shop, here is how to frame it so it still looks right in twenty years.

Why Japanese Prints Need Extra Care

A traditional woodblock print is printed on thin, soft Japanese paper, with colours laid down by hand from carved blocks. That gives them their beauty and also their weaknesses:

• The paper is thin and moves. It responds to changes in humidity and will cockle if it is held down too tightly.

• The colours are light-sensitive. The Icon guide to caring for art on paper notes that light can fade paint media and yellow paper, and that the damage builds over time.

• The surface is delicate. Many prints have subtle embossing or fine textures that flatten if they are pressed hard against glass.

The good news is that every one of these can be handled by the framing.

Hinge It, Never Dry Mount It

Dry mounting, where a print is heat-bonded flat to a board, is fast and gives a perfectly flat result. It is also effectively permanent, and on an antique or valuable print it can destroy both the paper and the value.

The conservation approach is to hinge the print. Small hinges of Japanese tissue are attached to the top edge of the back of the print with a reversible paste, and the print hangs from them inside the mount. The paper is held in place but free to expand and contract with the seasons, and the hinges can be removed later with water if the print ever needs to come out. It is, appropriately, a Japanese technique.

Self-adhesive tape is the thing to avoid. The Icon guidance warns that its adhesive creeps into paper and causes stains that are very hard to remove.

Use a Conservation Mount

A window mount does two jobs on a print: it presents it, and it keeps it off the glass. For a Japanese print, the mount and backing should be acid-free and lignin-free conservation board. Ordinary card mounts are a common cause of "mount burn", the brown line around the image where an acidic mount has discoloured the paper, and it is something we see often in older frames.

If the print has wide margins with the publisher's or censor's seals, or the artist's signature cartouche runs close to the edge, the window can be cut to show them. Some collectors like to float the whole sheet in the mount so the deckled or uneven edges show. Both work, and both should still use hinges.

Choose UV-Filtering Glazing

This is where keeping The Great Wave blue comes in. Light, and UV in particular, fades colour. Once a blue has faded, it does not come back.

UV-filtering glazing blocks the bulk of ultraviolet light before it reaches the print. There are several grades, from UV-filtering clear glass through to museum glass with an anti-reflective coating, which also makes the print much easier to see in a bright room. Our guide to UV protection in picture framing compares the main options, and if you are already looking at the top tier, read our comparison of Museum Glass vs Optium Museum Acrylic.

Glazing does not make a print light-proof. Visible light still causes slow fading, so placement matters too.

Where to Hang It

The Icon guidance gives sensible rules that apply to any work on paper:

• Avoid direct sunlight and south-facing light.

• Avoid hanging directly on the inside of an outside wall, where the cold can cause condensation inside the frame.

• Keep it away from radiators and spotlights, which dry the air and draw dirt into the frame.

A hallway, a north-facing room or a shaded wall will do far more for a Japanese print than any amount of glazing on a sunny chimney breast.

Reproductions and Giclee Prints

Most people who come home from Dulwich with a Hokusai will have a reproduction, and that is fine. A good giclee print on archival paper with pigment inks can last a long time, but it is still ink on paper and the same principles apply: acid-free mount, UV-filtering glazing, out of direct sun. If you want to know more about how long these prints last, see our guide to how long giclee prints last. We also produce giclee prints in our own workshop.

Choosing a Frame Style

Japanese prints usually look best with restraint. A slim frame in natural wood, black or a quiet stained finish lets the composition do the work, and a generous mount in a warm white or soft off-white gives the print room to breathe. Very ornate gilded frames tend to fight with the flat colour and strong lines of ukiyo-e. A set of prints framed identically and hung as a group can look superb.

Should an Original Go to a Conservator First?

If you own an antique impression that is torn, heavily stained, foxed or stuck to an old backing, it should see a paper conservator before it is reframed. Icon's Find a Conservator directory includes specialists in Japanese works on paper. Once it is stable, we can frame it with the same care.

If you have a Japanese print to frame, original or reproduction, send us a photo and the size and we will recommend the mount and glazing. Our conservation framing page explains the standards we work to.