Hiroshige | Fujikawa, Upright Tokaido
歌川広重 Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)
五十三次名所图绘 藤川 山中里旧名宫路山
Fujikawa, from the series of Pictures of Famous Places of the 53 Stations
1855
木版画 | 纵绘大判 | 36cm x 25cm
Woodblock-print | Oban tate-e | 36cm x 25cm
品相非常好
Very good condition
《五十三次名所图会》，是广重在1855年创作的，一套以东海道五十三次为题材的风景版画。在此系列中，广重一改往日的横绘，首次使用了纵向构图的竖绘。通常而言，纵向构图的风景画能强化垂直景物的存在感，并通过明显的画面纵深，表现出景别由近及远的节奏感，增强观赏者对画面的场景体验，有着横向构图难以达到的独特张力。天才的广重胸中自有丘壑，只一笔弯弯下坠的弧线，山路的走势与坡度就被勾勒分明；反向而行的那位旅人与点点马蹄印，又将人们的视线聚焦在了前景中商队的背影。堆雪挂霜的老松与枯树由点簇法绘出，顺势形成了曲型的视觉引导线。朝前望，中景的山中村道旁，间间苎麻店鳞次栉比。那些洁白的梯形屋顶，又恰与马夫们头上的顶顶斗笠交相辉映。最左边一弯碧蓝的河川，流动迂回成了闭环，衔接起了已空白到没有任何装饰线的远山。无数的雪片，正急忙忙地从灰黑的天际纷飞至人间，为的，或许也就是这浮世一眼。
More than half-way to Kyoto from Edo, we come into the 38th "station," the mountain village of Fujikawa. This is one of the best designs in the Upright Tokaido series and, interestingly, considering how famous Hiroshige was for snow scenes, one of only two designs in the series that features snow. (The other is Numazu, the 13th station.) But oh how evocative it is here! It is dark night and the last travellers of the day are coming into town, including one on horseback, which was unusual. The inns and teahouses of the town are arranged in a neat line, and Hiroshige uses this vertical design to accentuate the slope of the road and the distance between the foreground, midground and background. Hiroshige clearly enjoyed experimenting with perspective in the new tate-e format, and used previous designs as inspiration. For example, this design is very similar to Fuijikawa in the Kyoka Tokaido -- even with the same figure on horseback.
Interested in purchasing?
Please contact us.
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)
Ando Hiroshige (1897-1858) revolutionized the art of landscape prints during the Edo era, building on the success of his senior, Hokusai, but taking a more poetic and naturalist approach to portraying the beauty of Japan.
The son of a low-level Samurai assigned to the fire brigade in Edo, Hiroshige became a student of the Utagawa school as a young man. His first prints focused on beautiful women (bijin), and views of Edo. But in 1833 he began work on his most famous early work, his first series depicting the Tokaido, the "Great Sea Road" between Edo and Tokyo.
Today there is some controversy about this series. Initially, it was believed that Hiroshige had travelled the route along with a local lord (Daimyo) who was making a gift of horses to the Emperor. But more recent scholarship suggests Hiroshige never travelled the road himself, at least not the entire way, and made his designs using published guidebooks.
Nonetheless, the prints were wonderful and revolutionary. They embraced the seasons with a gentle lyricism missing from Hokusai's striking but stylized depictions. In Hiroshige's work, nature is sacred -- but it is always mixed with humanity, with travelers or little inns or bridges. There is a magical harmony between man and the elements.
His depiction of the seasons and weather is especially evocative. Snow blankets some views with a hushed silence, while rain streaks down furiously in others. In some prints natured is agitated; in others, calm prevails. Produced in a horizontal oban yoko-e format, the series was a smash hit.
The Tokaido series made Hiroshige famous, and he became incredible prolific. In the 1840s he produced many strong designs, but many mediocre ones, too, including several subsequent Tokaido series of varying quality.
In 1853, however, he made a big step. He turned his landscapes sideways, embracing a bold vertical oban tate-e format. This gave his designs new energy and a modern feel. The first of these was Famous Views of the Sixty-Odd Provinces. From them on, most of his most noted series were executed in this format.
He saved his greatest for his last. In 1856 he began work on 100 Famous Views of Edo, which many consider his most exceptional work. Here his home city was portrayed with energy and passion, and in these 119 designs he created an incredible record of a vanished place. In addition to the striking vertical format, he developed exciting new compositions, often juxtaposing a strong foreground element with a distant background.
Among the many famous images in this series are Squall at Ohashi and the Plum Garden in Komeido. Both of these were copied by Vincent Van Gogh, a great admirer of Hiroshige. Thus, the great Japanese artist had a profound effect on Western art.
Alas, his beloved Edo ended his life. Hiroshige was claimed by a cholera epidemic that swept the city in 1958. His pupil Shigenobu, who took the name Hiroshige II, completed The Famous Views of Edo.