Hiroshige | Sumida River, 100 Famous Views of Edo
歌川広重 Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)
名所江户百景 墨田河桥场之渡瓦灶
The Kilns and Hashiba Ferry near the Sumida 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
第一版次；品相完好；边缘经轻微修剪
First edition in excellent condition; slight trimming to the margins.
$4,700.00
在歌川广重的绝响之作《名所江户百景》中，他带着我们去了一趟他的家乡——江户（现在的东京）体验了一躺不可思议的旅行。他喜欢将著名的旅游景点与百姓日常工作场所结合到一起，比如下图的生产瓦片的窑炉。在这个大胆的构图中，广重利用左下角窑炉冒出的一缕白色浓烟几乎将画面切成两半。他甚至用烟雾遮挡住了了对岸的水神神社的视线。正值春天，丛林的远处樱花盛开，两艘满载着乘客的小木船从在河中央缓缓驶过。
We know in his last, and perhaps greatest series, Hiroshige took us on an incredible tour of his hometown, Edo -- modern-day Tokyo. Famous sights were mixed with work-a-day locations, like lumber yards and, here, kilns for making tiles. In a bold compositional gambit, Hiroshige cuts the image almost in half with a thick plume of whitish smoke from the left of two kilns. The one to the right is apparently unlit. He even uses the smoke to block the view of the torii of Suijin Shrine on the opposite shore. It is spring, the sakura is in bloom, and two small wooden boats laden with passengers -- the Hashiba ferry of the title -- pass each other mid-river.
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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.