author

Dora Amsden

b. 1858

Known for early English-language books on Japanese woodblock prints, this writer helped introduce many Western readers to the worlds of ukiyo-e and Hiroshige. Her work blends art history with an easy sense of wonder.

1 Audiobook

Impressions of Ukiyo-ye, the school of the Japanese colour-print artists

Impressions of Ukiyo-ye, the school of the Japanese colour-print artists

by Dora Amsden

About the author

Dora Amsden was an American writer on Japanese art, born in 1858. Surviving catalog records connect her with two well-known early 20th-century books: Impressions of Ukiyo-Ye (1905) and The Heritage of Hiroshige (1912), both published by Paul Elder and Company.

Her books focus on ukiyo-e, the Japanese woodblock-print tradition, and on major artists such as Hokusai and Hiroshige. They were written for general readers as well as collectors and students, helping explain the history, styles, and appeal of Japanese prints at a time when interest in Japanese art was growing strongly in the English-speaking world.

Reliable biographical details about her life appear to be limited in the sources readily available online. Some records list her as "Dora Amsden, 1858-" while others suggest slightly different birth and death dates, so it is safest to say that she was active as an art writer in the early 1900s and is remembered chiefly for her books on Japanese printmaking.