Picasso’s ‘Weeping Woman’ starts exhibition tracing intaglio’s path in Japan

An exhibition centered on Picasso’s ‘Weeping Woman’ will run from 12 September through 18 October 2026. Taking the work from the museum’s collection as its starting point, it follows how Western intaglio practices were introduced to Japan, received there and further developed.

The museum’s news announcement says that its ‘MOMAW Collection’ presentation is continuing in the first-floor exhibition room, where Picasso’s ‘Weeping Woman’ and ‘Minotauromachy’ are being displayed together in the collection presentation.

The exhibition defines intaglio as a printmaking process in which ink is packed into grooves cut into a plate and transferred to paper. Drypoint, engraving, etching, aquatint and mezzotint are identified as representative methods, while lines and dots cut into a hard metal plate produce a distinctive surface on paper.

Its historical account notes that European copperplate printmaking developed from around the 15th century, initially reproducing paintings and images before becoming an artistic medium used by artists themselves. In Japan, interest in intaglio grew against the background of Western art introduced through publications including the literary and art magazine ‘Shirakaba’, founded in 1910, while artists such as Terasaki Takeo and Manabe Tokio studied in Europe during the Taishō period and spread the techniques domestically.

The display includes Francisco de Goya’s ‘From Los Caprichos, 26: They already have a seat’, Terasaki Takeo’s ‘Canal’, Nakai Heisaburo’s ‘Kamikirimushi’ from issue 20 of the print magazine ‘Kyushu Hanga’, Kishida Ryusei’s ‘Desire’ from ‘The Creation’, and Hamaguchi Yozo’s ‘Roofs of Paris’. The museum describes prints as an important pillar of its collection, but says their sensitivity to light prevents long-term display; it has therefore planned to present collection masterpieces successively and develop exhibitions from those works.