Hiroshige Utagawa

Utagawa Hiroshige was a leading exponent of ukiyo-e — ‘Pictures of the floating world’ during the last half century of its existence as a Japanese art form. Ukiyo-e originated in the late seventeenth century, dedicated to the pursuit of pleasure in everyday urban life and based on popular idols taken from the ranks of courtesans and actors.

The collectable ukiyo-e woodblock prints developed along relatively sophisticated lines of their own, within the Japanese tradition of harmonious colour and graceful composition, which raised them above plain folk art. They were priced to suit the pockets of middle-class tradesmen, artisans and merchants. Paintings were reserved for the wealthier ranks.

Hiroshige’s total output was immense, some 5400 prints. He studied drawing from childhood and was apprenticed to just one master, Utagawa Tohoyiro. Yet Hiroshige worked for over twenty years before producing the series that established his reputation, Fifty-three stations of the Tokaido Road; an ambitious travelogue that followed the great highway between Kyoto and Edo.

Night Snow at Kanbara is a wood-block print from the series Fifty-three stations of the Tokaido Road. His characteristically shaded sky registers twilight over a mountain village engulfed in snow, through which three people are struggling home. Snow, rain or mist are favoured background conditions against which Hiroshige sets his travellers, often depicted crossing each others’ paths, emphasizing the transience of existence.

Working in the nineteenth century, Hiroshige and Hokusai each preferred to creates landscapes rather than portraits of actors, wrestlers, poets and courtesans. Their innate love of the Japanese for all aspects of the natural world ensured that both artists had an enthusiastic following. Although he may not have matched Hokusai’s draftsmanship, Hiroshige at his best is unsurpassed in his poetic vision. His ability to evoke the mood of a particular place still has unfailing appeal to westerners.