Utagawa Hiroshige

Utagawa Hiroshige (, also ; ja, 歌川 広重 ), born Andō Tokutarō (; 1797 – 12 October 1858), was a Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' artist, considered the last great master of that tradition.

Hiroshige is best known for his horizontal-format landscape series '' The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō'' and for his vertical-format landscape series '' One Hundred Famous Views of Edo''. The subjects of his work were atypical of the ''ukiyo-e'' genre, whose typical focus was on beautiful women, popular actors, and other scenes of the urban pleasure districts of Japan's Edo period (1603–1868). The popular series '' Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji'' by Hokusai was a strong influence on Hiroshige's choice of subject, though Hiroshige's approach was more poetic and ambient than Hokusai's bolder, more formal prints. Subtle use of color was essential in Hiroshige's prints, often printed with multiple impressions in the same area and with extensive use of '' bokashi'' (color gradation), both of which were rather labor-intensive techniques.

For scholars and collectors, Hiroshige's death marked the beginning of a rapid decline in the ''ukiyo-e'' genre, especially in the face of the westernization that followed the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Hiroshige's work came to have a marked influence on western European painting towards the close of the 19th century as a part of the trend in Japonism. Western European artists, such as Manet and Monet, collected and closely studied Hiroshige's compositions. Vincent van Gogh even went so far as to paint copies of two of Hiroshige's prints from ''One Hundred Famous Views of Edo'': '' Plum Park in Kameido'' and '' Sudden Shower over Shin-Ōhashi bridge and Atake''

Early life and apprenticeship

Hiroshige was born in 1797 in the Yayosu Quay section of the Yaesu area in Edo (modern Tokyo). He was of a samurai background, and is the great-grandson of Tanaka Tokuemon, who held a position of power under the Tsugaru clan in the northern province of Mutsu. Hiroshige's grandfather, Mitsuemon, was an archery instructor who worked under the name Sairyūken. Hiroshige's father, Gen'emon, was adopted into the family of Andō Jūemon, whom he succeeded as fire warden for the Yayosu Quay area.

Hiroshige went through several name changes as a youth: Jūemon, Tokubē, and Tetsuzō. He had three sisters, one of whom died when he was three. His mother died in early 1809, and his father followed later in the year, but not before handing his fire warden duties to his twelve-year-old son. He was charged with prevention of fires at Edo Castle, a duty that left him much leisure time.

Not long after his parents' deaths, perhaps at around fourteen, Hiroshige—then named Tokutarō— began painting. He sought the tutelage of Toyokuni of the Utagawa school, but Toyokuni had too many pupils to make room for him. A librarian introduced him instead to Toyohiro of the same school. By 1812 Hiroshige was permitted to sign his works, which he did under the art name Hiroshige. He also studied the techniques of the well-established Kanō school, the nanga whose tradition began with the Chinese Southern School, and the realistic Shijō school, and likely the linear perspective techniques of Western art and uki-e.

Hiroshige's apprentice work included book illustrations and single-sheet ''ukiyo-e'' prints of female beauties and kabuki actors in the Utagawa style, sometimes signing them Ichiyūsai or, from 1832, Ichiryūsai. In 1823, he passed his post as fire warden on to his son, though he still acted as an alternate. He declined an offer to succeed Toyohiro upon the master's death in 1828.

Landscapes, flora, and fauna

It was not until 1829–1830 that Hiroshige began to produce the landscapes he has come to be known for, such as the '' Eight Views of Ōmi'' series. He also created an increasing number of bird and flower prints about this time. About 1831, his ''Ten Famous Places in the Eastern Capital'' appeared, and seem to bear the influence of Hokusai, whose popular landscape series '' Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji'' had recently seen publication.

An invitation to join an official procession to Kyoto in 1832 gave Hiroshige the opportunity to travel along the Tōkaidō route that linked the two capitals. He sketched the scenery along the way, and when he returned to Edo he produced the series '' The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō'', which contains some of his best-known prints. Hiroshige built on the series' success by following it with others, such as the ''Illustrated Places of Naniwa'' (1834), ''Famous Places of Kyoto'' (1835), another '' Eight Views of Ōmi'' (1834). As he had never been west of Kyoto, Hiroshige-based his illustrations of Naniwa (modern Osaka) and Ōmi Province on pictures found in books and paintings.

The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō''" mode="packed" heights="180px">

Hiroshige11 hakone.jpg, Print 11: ''Hakone''
Hiroshige16 kanbara.jpg, Print 16: ''Kanbara''
Hiroshige, Travellers surprised by sudden rain.jpg, Print 46: ''Rain Shower at Shōno''

Hiroshige's first wife helped finance his trips to sketch travel locations, in one instance selling some of her clothing and ornamental combs. She died in October 1838, and Hiroshige remarried to Oyasu, sixteen years his junior, daughter of a farmer named Kaemon from Tōtōmi Province.

Around 1838 Hiroshige produced two series entitled '' Eight Views of the Edo Environs'', each print accompanied by a humorous '' kyōka'' poem. '' The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō'' saw print between about 1835 and 1842, a joint production with Keisai Eisen, of which Hiroshige's share was forty-six of the seventy prints.
Hiroshige produced 118 sheets for the '' One Hundred Famous Views of Edo''Forbes & Henley (2014). Full series over the last decade of his life, beginning about 1848.

One Hundred Famous Views of Edo'' and '' Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji''" mode="packed" heights="230px">

De pruimenboomgaard te Kameido-Rijksmuseum RP-P-1956-743.jpeg, ''Edo'', print 30: '' The Plum Garden in Kameido''
100 views edo 063.jpg, ''Edo'', print 63: ''Suidō Bridge and the Surugadai Quarter''

03 - Sukiyagahsi.jpg, ''Thirty-six Views'', print 3: ''Sukiyagashi in the Eastern Capital''
Hiroshige, Futamigaura in Ise Province, 1858.jpg, ''Thirty-six Views'', print 27: ''Futami Bay in Ise Province''

Hiroshige's students

Hiroshige II was a young print artist, Chinpei Suzuki, who married Hiroshige's daughter, Otatsu. He was given the artist name of "Shigenobu". Hiroshige intended to make Shigenobu his heir in all matters, and Shigenobu adopted the name "Hiroshige" after his master's death in 1858, and thus today is known as Hiroshige II. However, the marriage to Otatsu was troubled and in 1865 they separated. Otatsu was remarried to another former pupil of Hiroshige, Shigemasa, who appropriated the name of the lineage and today is known as Hiroshige III. Both Hiroshige II and Hiroshige III worked in a distinctive style based on that of Hiroshige, but neither achieved the level of success and recognition accorded to their master. Other students of Hiroshige I include Utagawa Shigemaru, Utagawa Shigekiyo, and Utagawa Hirokage.

Hiroshige II Suō Iwakuni.jpg, ''Suō Iwakuni'', Hiroshige II, 1859
Hiroshige III - Teppōzu Akashi-bashi.jpg, ''Teppōzu Akashi-bashi'', Hiroshige III,
Hirokage - Comic Incidents at Famous Places in Edo (Edo meisho dôke zukushi), No. 22, dog stealing a workman's meal from a snow Daruma.jpg, ''Dog stealing a workman's meal from a snow Daruma'', Hirokage,

Late life

In his declining years, Hiroshige still produced thousands of prints to meet the demand for his works, but few were as good as those of his early and middle periods. He never lived in financial comfort, even in old age.
In no small part, his prolific output stemmed from the fact that he was poorly paid per series, although he was still capable of remarkable art when the conditions were right — his great '' One Hundred Famous Views of Edo'' ( ''Meisho Edo Hyakkei'') was paid for up-front by a wealthy Buddhist priest in love with the daughter of the publisher, Uoya Eikichi (a former fishmonger).

In 1856, Hiroshige "retired from the world," becoming a Buddhist monk; this was the year he began his ''One Hundred Famous Views of Edo''. He died aged 62 during the great Edo cholera epidemic of 1858 (whether the epidemic killed him is unknown) and was buried in a Zen Buddhist temple in Asakusa. Just before his death, he left a farewell poem:

(The Western Land in this context refers to the strip of land by the Tōkaidō between Kyoto and Edo, but it does double duty as a reference to the paradise of the Amida Buddha).

Despite his productivity and popularity, Hiroshige was not wealthy—his commissions were less than those of other in-demand artists, amounting to an income of about twice the wages of a day labourer. His will left instructions for the payment of his debts.

Works

Hiroshige produced over 8,000 works. He largely confined himself in his early work to common ''ukiyo-e'' themes such as women ( ) and actors ( ). Then, after the death of Toyohiro, Hiroshige made a dramatic turnabout, with the 1831 landscape series ''Famous Views of the Eastern Capital'' ( ) which was critically acclaimed for its composition and colors. This set is generally distinguished from Hiroshige's many print sets depicting Edo by referring to it as ''Ichiyūsai Gakki'', a title derived from the fact that he signed it as Ichiyūsai Hiroshige. With '' The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō'' (1833–1834), his success was assured. These designs were drawn from Hiroshige's actual travels of the full distance of . They included details of date, location, and anecdotes of his fellow travelers, and were immensely popular. In fact, this series was so popular that he reissued it in three versions, one of which was made jointly with Kunisada.Christine Guth, Art of Edo Japan: The Artist and the City, 1615–1868 (Harry Abrams, 1996). Hiroshige went on to produce more than 2000 different prints of Edo and post stations Tōkaidō, as well as series such as '' The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō'' (1834–1842) and his own '' Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji'' (1852–1858). Of his estimated total of 5000 designs, these landscapes comprised the largest proportion of any genre.

He dominated landscape printmaking with his unique brand of intimate, almost small-scale works compared against the older traditions of landscape painting descended from Chinese landscape painters such as Sesshu. The travel prints generally depict travelers along famous routes experiencing the special attractions of various stops along the way. They travel in the rain, in snow, and during all of the seasons. In 1856, working with the publisher Uoya Eikichi, he created a series of luxury edition prints, made with the finest printing techniques including true gradation of color, the addition of mica to lend a unique iridescent effect, embossing, fabric printing, blind printing, and the use of glue printing (wherein ink is mixed with glue for a glittery effect). Hiroshige pioneered the use of the vertical format in landscape printing in his series Famous Views of the Sixty-odd Provinces. ''One Hundred Famous Views of Edo'' (issued serially between 1856 and 1859) was immensely popular. The set was published posthumously and some prints had not been completed — he had created over 100 on his own, but two were added by Hiroshige II after his death.

Influence

Hiroshige was a member of the Utagawa school, along with Kunisada and Kuniyoshi. The Utagawa school comprised dozens of artists, and stood at the forefront of 19th century woodblock prints. Particularly noteworthy for their actor and historical prints, members of the Utagawa school were nonetheless well-versed in all of the popular genres.

During Hiroshige’s time, the print industry was booming, and the consumer audience for prints was growing rapidly. Prior to this time, most print series had been issued in small sets, such as ten or twelve designs per series. Increasingly large series were produced to meet demand, and this trend can be seen in Hiroshige’s work, such as ''The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō'' and ''One Hundred Famous Views of Edo''.

In terms of style, Hiroshige is especially noted for using unusual vantage points, seasonal allusions, and striking colors. In particular, he worked extensively within the realm of ' () pictures of famous places. During the Edo period, tourism was also booming, leading to increased popular interest in travel. Travel guides abounded, and towns appeared along routes such as the Tōkaidō, a road that connected Edo with Kyoto. In the midst of this burgeoning travel culture, Hiroshige drew upon his own travels, as well as tales of others’ adventures, for inspiration in creating his landscapes. For example, in ''The Fifty-three Stations on the Tōkaidō'' (1833), he illustrates anecdotes from ''Travels on the Eastern Seaboard'' ( , 1802–1809) by Jippensha Ikku, a comedy describing the adventures of two bumbling travelers as they make their way along the same road.

Hiroshige’s ''The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō'' (1833–1834) and ''One Hundred Famous Views of Edo'' (1856–1858) greatly influenced French Impressionists such as Monet. Vincent van Gogh copied two of the ''One Hundred Famous Views of Edo'' which were among his collection of ukiyo-e prints. Hiroshige's style also influenced the Mir iskusstva, a 20th-century Russian art movement in which Ivan Bilibin and Mstislav Dobuzhinsky were major artists. Dobuzhinsky confessed of Hiroshige's influence "I liked to choose a viewpoint of my own so that the composition would be striking, unusual; in that, I had the constant example of Hiroshige before my eyes". Cézanne and Whistler were also amongst those under Hiroshige's influence. Hiroshige was regarded by Louise Gonse, director of the influential '' Gazette des Beaux-Arts'' and author of the two volume ''L'Art Japonais'' in 1883, as the greatest painter of landscapes of the 19th century.

Hiroshige Atake sous une averse soudaine.jpg, '' Sudden Shower Over Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake'', Hiroshige, 1857
One of the '' One Hundred Famous Views of Edo''
Vincent van Gogh - Brug in de regen- naar Hiroshige - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Bridge in the rain (after Hiroshige)'', Vincent van Gogh (from '' Japonaiserie''), oil on canvas, 1887
De pruimenboomgaard te Kameido-Rijksmuseum RP-P-1956-743.jpeg, '' The Plum Garden in Kameido'' (1857), from Hiroshige's '' One Hundred Famous Views of Edo''
Vincent van Gogh - Bloeiende pruimenboomgaard- naar Hiroshige - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Flowering Plum Tree (after Hiroshige)'' (1887) by Vincent van Gogh, from his '' Japonaiserie'', in the collection of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam

Gallery

File:Brooklyn Museum - Moonlight View of Tsukuda with Lady on a Balcony - Utagawa Hiroshige (Ando).jpg, Moonlight View of Tsukuda with Lady on a Balcony
File:Sumida River, the Wood of the Water God, at Masaki LACMA M.66.35.5.jpg, Sumida River, the Wood of the Water god
File:Ando Hiroshige - Moon over Ships Moored at Tsukuda Island from Eitai Bridge - Google Art Project.jpg, Moon over Ships Moored at Tsukuda Island from Eitai Bridge
File:Utagawa Hiroshige - Evening on the Sumida river - Google Art Project.jpg, Evening on the Sumida river
File:Utagawa Hiroshige - Enjoying the fireworks and the cool of the evening at Ryogoku bridge in the Eastern Capital - Google Art Project.jpg, Enjoying the fireworks and the cool of the evening at Ryogoku bridge
File:100_views_edo_111.jpg, Moon Bridge in Meguro, from ''One Hundred Famous Views of Edo''
File:Ando Hiroshige - The Sea at Satta, Suruga Province, from the series "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji" - Google Art Project.jpg, The Sea at Satta, Suruga Province, from ''Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji''
File: 26_Kozuke.jpg, Kozuke Province, from ''Famous Views of the Sixty-odd Provinces''
File:Utagawa Hiroshige I, published by Uoya Eikichi - Horikiri Iris Garden (Horikiri no hanashōbu), from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meish... - Google Art Project.jpg, Horikiri Iris Garden (Horikiri no hanashōbu), from ''One Hundred Famous Views of Edo''
File:100 views edo 047.jpg, Fudo Falls, Oji, 1857, from ''One Hundred Famous Views of Edo''
File:100 views edo 036.jpg, View from Massaki of Suijin Shrine, Uchigawa Inlet, and Sekiya, from ''One Hundred Famous Views of Edo''
File:100 views edo 045.jpg, Yoroi Ferry, Koami-cho, from ''One Hundred Famous Views of Edo''

File:Hiroshige Heavy rain on a pine tree 2.jpg, Heavy rain on a pine tree, from '' Eight Views of Ōmi''
File:Hiroshige Fishing boats on a lake.jpg, Fishing boats on a lake, from ''Eight Views of Ōmi''
File:Hiroshige Full moon over a mountain landscape.jpg, Full moon over a mountain landscape, from ''Eight Views of Ōmi''
File:Sokokura by Hiroshige1.jpg, Sokokura, from ''Seven Hot Springs of Hakone''
File:Hiroshige View of a long bridge across a lake.jpg, View of a long bridge across a lake, from ''Eight Views of Ōmi''

File:Hiroshige A shrine among trees on a moor.jpg, A shrine among trees on a moor

See also

* List of Utagawa school members
* :Print series by Hiroshige

Notes

Notes

References

* Forbes, Andrew; Henley, David (2014). ''100 Famous Views of Edo''. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN: B00HR3RHUY
* Forbes, Andrew; Henley, David (2014). ''Utagawa Hiroshige’s 36 Views of Mount Fuji''. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN: B00KD7CZ9O
* Forbes, Andrew; Henley, David (2014). ''Utagawa Hiroshige's 53 Stations of the Tokaido''. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN: B00LM4APAI
*
*

Further reading

*
*
* Davis, Julie Nelson. "The Utagawa School". ''Print Quarterly'', vol. 25, no. 4 (2008): 453–456.
* Friese, Gordon. ''Keisai Eisen - Utugawa Hiroshige. Die 69 Stationen des Kisokaidô''. Germany, Unna 2008.
* Kafū, Nagai, Kyoko Selden, and Alisa Freedman. "Ukiyo-e Landscapes and Edo Scenic Places(1914)". ''Review of Japanese Culture and Society'', vol. 24 (2012): 210–232.
* McManamon, Sean P. "Japanese Woodblock Prints as a Lens and a Mirror for Modernity". ''History Teacher'' 49, no. 3 (2016): 443–464.
* Neuer, Toni, Herbert Libertson; Susugu Yoshida; W. H. Smith. ''Ukiyo-e: 250 years of Japanese Art''. 1979.
* Tom Rassieur
"Degas and Hiroshige"
''Print Quarterly'' XXVIII, 2011, pp. 429–431.
* Smith, Henry D. II; Poster, G. Amy; Lehman, L. Arnold. ''Hiroshige: One Hundred Famous Views of Edo''. George Braziller, 1986. Paperback: ; hardcover:
*

External links

Shizuoka City Tokaido Hiroshige Museum of Art
(in Japanese)

The Woodblock Prints of Utagawa Hiroshige

Ukiyo-e Prints by Utagawa Hiroshige

Brooklyn Museum: Exhibitions: One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

Hiroshige's works at Tokyo Digital Museum

Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of ArtHiroshige's works at the University of Michigan Museum of ArtHiroshige's works at the Dallas Museum of Art

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hiroshige
1797 births
1858 deaths
Ukiyo-e artists
19th-century Japanese artists
Japanese printmakers
Japanese painters
Landscape artists
19th-century Japanese people
Utagawa school
Buddhist artists
Artists from Tokyo Metropolis