Cherry blossoms on the banks of the Tama River from the series "100 famous views of Edo".
color woodcut, ink, paper, 24.5x16 cm (paper size)
The series "100 Famous Views of Edo" was created shortly before Hiroshige's death. Considered one of his best works, the series significantly influenced the perception of Japanese landscape woodcuts in Europe, especially in France in the late 19th century. Its influence extended to the French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist movements, with artists such as Van Gogh creating copies of some of the designs or incorporating them into some of his famous paintings. The title of the series can be a bit misleading. The collection created by Ando Hiroshige during his lifetime does not consist of just 100 designs. It includes 118 designs along with a title page. These picturesque woodcuts contain the essence of the four seasons - spring, summer, autumn and winter. While some categorize them based on these seasonal distinctions, from an aesthetic point of view, such categorization may not be meaningful. In particular, snowy winter scenes have a unique charm.
Hiroshige Andō, also known as Hiroshige Utagawa, is one of Japan's best-known painters and printmakers. His father, Andō Genuemon, was a low-ranking samurai and fire brigade officer. From the age of sixteen, Hiroshige studied in the studio of Utagawa Toyohira, under whose tutelage he developed his skills and talent. Young Hiroshige soaked up the artistic atmosphere while helping in the daily life of his father's brigade. It wasn't until he was 27 that he fully decided to follow the path of artistic creation. After his teacher's death in 1822, he was offered to take over the studio after his master, but Hiroshige declined the offer and set his sights on independence. Hiroshige's artistic output has not been fully catalogued to this day, but it is estimated that some 5,000 works were created, primarily in the color woodcut technique. He began his career with portraits of beautiful women (bijin-ga) and images of kabuki actors (yakusha-e), but after the death of his teacher he focused primarily on native landscapes. Hiroshige came from a samurai family, however, he identified with bourgeois Edo culture. He became primarily known as the creator of landscape series such as Fifty-three Stations on the Tōkaidō Road(Tōkaidō gojūsan tsugi no uchi), One Hundred Views of Famous Places in Edo(Meisho Edo hyakkei) and Sixty-nine Stations on the Kisokaidō Road(Kisokaidō rokujūkyū tsugi no uchi). He masterfully depicted the landscape at different times of the year and day, and was interested in weather phenomena. He experimented with effects and composition and used unconventional shortcuts. A unique element in his works is the depiction of atmospheric phenomena such as snowfall or rainfall, as well as gales and storms. On the other hand, he was interested in the phenomenon of shadow and its effect both in the landscape and domestic interiors.
