Japanese prints from the Henry Dyer collection

The Fine Art Library holds a special collection of Japanese prints and watercolours from the collection of Dr Henry Dyer, presented to the library by his daughter in 1944, with some further items presented in the 1950s. The bequest is shared between Edinburgh and Glasgow City Libraries, and consists of around 80 painted photographs of Japanese characters and scenes by Baron von Stillfied-Rathenitz (an Austrian painter and photographer whose studio in Yokohama was immensely successful during the last quarter of the nineteenth century - producing thousands of images of the working classes, actors in the theatre, geishas and craftsmen primarily for tourists visiting the city).

Also gifted were Japanese prints, consisting of 8 albums, 9 kakaemonos or hanging pictures, 3 makimonos or rolling pictures, and many original watercolour sketches and woodcuts.  Artists represented are Kunisada (1786-1865), a pupil of Toyokuni and a member of the Utagawa school; Hiroshige (1798-1858), one of the foremost landscape artists; Sadahide(c.1840), a pupil of Kunisada; and Kuniyoshi (1798-1861), a member of the Toyokuni school.

Henry Dyer (1848-1918), born in Bothwell near Glasgow, played a piviotal role in the reformation of the Japanese education system and industrialisation at the end of the nineteenth century.

In 1873, at the age of 24, Dyer, who gained the first BSc to be awarded by Glasgow University, left Scotland for Japan to become the first principal of the Imperial College of Engineering in Tokyo. He remained there for almost ten years, helping to lay the foundation of Japan's technical revolution and reforming its system of higher education. At a time when Japanese education was by rote learning, Dyer established a curriculum utilising a broad science-based course for the first two years. The last two years of the course were spent entirely in the Akabane works or any other works under state control - a philosophy strangely modern in its emphasis on work experience and practical training.

On returning to Scotland in 1883, Dyer appears to have had problems settling into Scottish academic life. After some fruitless applications for chairs at various Scottish universities, he became self-appointed advisor to Japanese visitors and students to Glasgow and was a member of the Glasgow School Board and other educational committees.

In 1882 as a mark of appreciation of his services to Japan, Dyer received from the Emperor the Order of the Rising Sun (Third Class), the highest honour of the kind given to any foreign employee up to that time, and in 1909 he received the honour of the sacred treasure (Second Class).

All of the woodcut prints have now been digitised and are available for viewing on the Capital Collections image library. The prints are all of the Utagawa school, the main artists of which are Toyokuni, Kunisada and Kuniyoshi. How exactly Henry Dyer came by the prints is not known.

All the prints date from the nineteenth century. Due to lack of exposure to light the colours have been particularly well preserved.

While Dyer and his colleagues were revolutionising the educational system and industry in Japan, the Japanese print was changing the face of western art. As Japan itself became more westernised, the influence of Japanese culture spread to the west through the interchange of trade and the sale of prints and other artefacts. After 'mythically' being discovered as wrapping paper round packets of tea, Japanese prints were sought after and collected by many artists, particularly Monet, Manet and Van Gogh. The influence on the work of these artists and almost all the Impressionists can easily be seen.