Hiroshige | Asakusa River Great Riverbank, Miyato River, 100 Famous Views of Edo
歌川広重 Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)
名所江户百景 浅草川大川端宫戸川
Asakusa River, Great Riverbank, Miyato River, from the series of 100 Famous Views of Edo
1857
木版画 | 纵绘大判 | 36cm x 25cm
Woodblock-print | Oban tate-e | 36cm x 25cm
非常早期的版次；品相非常好
Very early impression; great condition
$5,200
Ukiyoe woodblock print designers, and Hiroshige especially, were masters of "negative space" -- focusing on the areas and spaces around the main subject matter of a print. And you will find few better examples of the bold use of negative space than in this print. Here the focus at the center appears to be, well, nothing. It's just a beautiful sky, without a cloud in sight. But look around the periphery: so much is happening. This print depicts a spot near the Ryogoku Bridge where pilgrims come to rinse themselves in the waters of the Sumida River. But we don't see that. Instead, we see the tenugui-wrapped heads of the pilgrims in the lower left, and, above that but still practically in the margin, the veritable bouquets of paper strips they hoist aloft as part of their ritual. Other pilgrims arrive by boat. In the distance we see the jagged peaks of Mount Tsukuba, which appears from time to time in 100 Famous Views of Edo. And in the middle: nothing.
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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.