Utagawa Hiroshige
Who
The last great master of ukiyo-e, a low-ranking samurai fire warden who became the landscape printmaker of Edo. Weather, rain, snow and dusk were his subjects.
Why they matter
Van Gogh copied two of the Hundred Views of Edo in oil in 1887 (the plum garden and the rain over the bridge). The Tokaido series, showing the post stations of the road from Edo to Kyoto, was the bestseller of its day and remains the entry point to Japanese prints for most collectors.
What to buy
Originals: the same caveats as Hokusai. Edo-period impressions of the famous designs cost thousands; later Meiji and twentieth-century reprints are common and cheap and are honest purchases if labelled. Less famous designs in early impressions can be had for a few hundred dollars from specialist dealers, which is the best way to own real ukiyo-e. Books: Taschen's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo reproduces the Brooklyn Museum's set.
Notes
The Brooklyn Museum's complete Hundred Views is the standard reference set; the Met and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston hold large Hiroshige collections.
Key works
- The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (1833-1834)
- One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (1856-1858)
- Sudden Shower over Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake (1857) - from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo
- Plum Garden at Kameido (1857) - from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo
In museum collections
- Fuchu (1831)
Indianapolis Museum of Art ↗ · Find a print ↗ - A Snowy Evening at Kambara Station (1833)
The Met ↗ · Find a print ↗ - A Wealthy Merchant
Minneapolis Institute of Art ↗ · Find a print ↗ - Flower Viewing at Asuka Hill (Asukayama hanami), section of a sheet from the series "Cutouts of Famous Places in Edo (Harimaze Koto meisho)" (1852)
Art Institute of Chicago ↗ · Find a print ↗ - Hakone; Kosui (1833)
The Met ↗ · Find a print ↗ - Hara: Mount Fuji in the Morning (1833)
The Met ↗ · Find a print ↗ - Hibiscus Mutabilis and Jay (1840)
The Met ↗ · Find a print ↗ - Hiratsuka; Nawate Do (1834)
The Met ↗ · Find a print ↗ - Honmoku Bay of Musashi Province (1827)
The Met ↗ · Find a print ↗ - Kannon Slope of the Kiso Highway (1827)
The Met ↗ · Find a print ↗ - Koyurugi Beach of Sagami Province (1827)
The Met ↗ · Find a print ↗ - Matsuchiyama on the Sumida River (1849)
Art Institute of Chicago ↗ · Find a print ↗
See the work
Prints
Books
Originals
See also
Browse all 2,101 artists · Open in the directory · Where the work hangs: 51 museums on a map