Hiroshige | Tsuchiyama, from the 53 Stations of the Tokaido
歌川広重 Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)
东海道五十三次之内 土山 春ノ雨
Tsuchiyama, from The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido
1833-34
木版画 | 横绘大判 | 25.7cm x 37.9cm
Woodblock-print | Oban yoko -e | 25.7cm x 37.9cm
早期版次；颜色保存非常好；边缘完整；上方边缘有两个非常小的小洞
Early impression; fine color; full margins; 2 tiny holes in the upper margin
雨景，广重的拿手好戏。
《东海道五十三次之内》是歌川广重于1833年至1834年推出的横版名所绘系列，全套共计55张。作为广重最负盛名的代表作之一。此系列一经推出，便成为名所绘的里程碑，并且掀起了后世浮世绘画师以东海道为主题的创作热潮，无论从艺术价值和历史意义而言，都堪称最杰出的浮世绘系列之一。
土山，即土山宿，位于今日本滋贺县甲贺市土山町，是东海道五十三次中的第四十九处宿场，此地常年降水充沛，尤其是在春日——看看本作中那些密集的雨丝，你就会明白这又是一场瓢泼大雨。广重以他惯用的纤细而有力的灰色线条，为全画奠定了湿漉漉的基调。同时，他还精心设计了一个充满现代感的多对角线构图，将画面的趣味性与艺术性直接拉满：奔腾的田村川，从右上向左下奔流而去，红绿衣装参差的大名行列，在桥上与之交叉对向而行。每个人的斗笠，也都因骤雨而压低。平旷的空地后，位于左上方茂密的树林掩映着其内田村神社的身影。有赖于早期版次的摺印优良与精心的保管，树叶与雨丝的细节至今纤毫毕现，即使是画外的边缘也几乎没有损伤，实为难得。
Hiroshige’s “53 Stations of the Tokaido” – also known as the Hōeidō Tokaido or “Grand Tokaido” — revolutionized the landscape genre in Japanese woodblock prints in the early 1830s. In many of the designs, nature is quiet and restrained, sublime even, but in some it bursts forth with energy and fury. This is one of those prints.
Tsuchiyama was the 50th station on the Tokaido, the Great Sea Road. The traveler who’d departed Edo a few weeks previously was growing ever nearer to the destination, Kyoto. But this print doesn’t show the town itself. Rather, it shows a Daimyo’s retinue crossing the mountain pass of Suzuka. Rain slashes down in geometrically perfect drops, engorging the stream and forcing down the heads of the samurai, who have covered the tips of their spears against the deluge. This pass was notorious for unrelenting rainfall.
Look at the strikingly modern composition, essentially a set of intersecting diagonals – the stream comes rushing down, right-to-left, the samurai soldier on, upwards, right to left, and a few houses set amid a grove of dark trees fill the upper left. An earthy palette of browns contrasts with the deep blue of the roaring stream. And it’s all bisected, again and again and again, by that rain. This is considered among the strongest designs of the series.
This example is in great shape, pretty much as it was the day it was printed, with extraordinarily wide margins.
Interested in purchasing?
Please contact us.
歌川広重 Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)
东海道五十三次之内 土山 春ノ雨
Tsuchiyama, from The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido
1833-34
木版画 | 横绘大判 | 25.7cm x 37.9cm
Woodblock-print | Oban yoko -e | 25.7cm x 37.9cm
早期版次；颜色保存非常好；边缘完整；上方边缘有两个非常小的小洞
Early impression; fine color; full margins; 2 tiny holes in the upper margin
雨景，广重的拿手好戏。
《东海道五十三次之内》是歌川广重于1833年至1834年推出的横版名所绘系列，全套共计55张。作为广重最负盛名的代表作之一。此系列一经推出，便成为名所绘的里程碑，并且掀起了后世浮世绘画师以东海道为主题的创作热潮，无论从艺术价值和历史意义而言，都堪称最杰出的浮世绘系列之一。
土山，即土山宿，位于今日本滋贺县甲贺市土山町，是东海道五十三次中的第四十九处宿场，此地常年降水充沛，尤其是在春日——看看本作中那些密集的雨丝，你就会明白这又是一场瓢泼大雨。广重以他惯用的纤细而有力的灰色线条，为全画奠定了湿漉漉的基调。同时，他还精心设计了一个充满现代感的多对角线构图，将画面的趣味性与艺术性直接拉满：奔腾的田村川，从右上向左下奔流而去，红绿衣装参差的大名行列，在桥上与之交叉对向而行。每个人的斗笠，也都因骤雨而压低。平旷的空地后，位于左上方茂密的树林掩映着其内田村神社的身影。有赖于早期版次的摺印优良与精心的保管，树叶与雨丝的细节至今纤毫毕现，即使是画外的边缘也几乎没有损伤，实为难得。
Hiroshige’s “53 Stations of the Tokaido” – also known as the Hōeidō Tokaido or “Grand Tokaido” — revolutionized the landscape genre in Japanese woodblock prints in the early 1830s. In many of the designs, nature is quiet and restrained, sublime even, but in some it bursts forth with energy and fury. This is one of those prints.
Tsuchiyama was the 50th station on the Tokaido, the Great Sea Road. The traveler who’d departed Edo a few weeks previously was growing ever nearer to the destination, Kyoto. But this print doesn’t show the town itself. Rather, it shows a Daimyo’s retinue crossing the mountain pass of Suzuka. Rain slashes down in geometrically perfect drops, engorging the stream and forcing down the heads of the samurai, who have covered the tips of their spears against the deluge. This pass was notorious for unrelenting rainfall.
Look at the strikingly modern composition, essentially a set of intersecting diagonals – the stream comes rushing down, right-to-left, the samurai soldier on, upwards, right to left, and a few houses set amid a grove of dark trees fill the upper left. An earthy palette of browns contrasts with the deep blue of the roaring stream. And it’s all bisected, again and again and again, by that rain. This is considered among the strongest designs of the series.
This example is in great shape, pretty much as it was the day it was printed, with extraordinarily wide margins.
Interested in purchasing?
Please contact us.
歌川広重 Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)
东海道五十三次之内 土山 春ノ雨
Tsuchiyama, from The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido
1833-34
木版画 | 横绘大判 | 25.7cm x 37.9cm
Woodblock-print | Oban yoko -e | 25.7cm x 37.9cm
早期版次；颜色保存非常好；边缘完整；上方边缘有两个非常小的小洞
Early impression; fine color; full margins; 2 tiny holes in the upper margin
雨景，广重的拿手好戏。
《东海道五十三次之内》是歌川广重于1833年至1834年推出的横版名所绘系列，全套共计55张。作为广重最负盛名的代表作之一。此系列一经推出，便成为名所绘的里程碑，并且掀起了后世浮世绘画师以东海道为主题的创作热潮，无论从艺术价值和历史意义而言，都堪称最杰出的浮世绘系列之一。
土山，即土山宿，位于今日本滋贺县甲贺市土山町，是东海道五十三次中的第四十九处宿场，此地常年降水充沛，尤其是在春日——看看本作中那些密集的雨丝，你就会明白这又是一场瓢泼大雨。广重以他惯用的纤细而有力的灰色线条，为全画奠定了湿漉漉的基调。同时，他还精心设计了一个充满现代感的多对角线构图，将画面的趣味性与艺术性直接拉满：奔腾的田村川，从右上向左下奔流而去，红绿衣装参差的大名行列，在桥上与之交叉对向而行。每个人的斗笠，也都因骤雨而压低。平旷的空地后，位于左上方茂密的树林掩映着其内田村神社的身影。有赖于早期版次的摺印优良与精心的保管，树叶与雨丝的细节至今纤毫毕现，即使是画外的边缘也几乎没有损伤，实为难得。
Hiroshige’s “53 Stations of the Tokaido” – also known as the Hōeidō Tokaido or “Grand Tokaido” — revolutionized the landscape genre in Japanese woodblock prints in the early 1830s. In many of the designs, nature is quiet and restrained, sublime even, but in some it bursts forth with energy and fury. This is one of those prints.
Tsuchiyama was the 50th station on the Tokaido, the Great Sea Road. The traveler who’d departed Edo a few weeks previously was growing ever nearer to the destination, Kyoto. But this print doesn’t show the town itself. Rather, it shows a Daimyo’s retinue crossing the mountain pass of Suzuka. Rain slashes down in geometrically perfect drops, engorging the stream and forcing down the heads of the samurai, who have covered the tips of their spears against the deluge. This pass was notorious for unrelenting rainfall.
Look at the strikingly modern composition, essentially a set of intersecting diagonals – the stream comes rushing down, right-to-left, the samurai soldier on, upwards, right to left, and a few houses set amid a grove of dark trees fill the upper left. An earthy palette of browns contrasts with the deep blue of the roaring stream. And it’s all bisected, again and again and again, by that rain. This is considered among the strongest designs of the series.
This example is in great shape, pretty much as it was the day it was printed, with extraordinarily wide margins.
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.