Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese: 歌川 広重), also Andō Hiroshige (Japanese: 安藤 広重; 1797 – 12 October 1858), was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, considered the last great master of that tradition.
Hiroshige is best known for his landscapes, such as the series The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō and The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō; and for his depictions of birds and flowers. 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 Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji series 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. (Wikipedia)
As a child, I collected the little cards with Japanese prints that came in ochazuke (breakfast rice soup sprinkles). The compositions were asymmetrical (diagonals!), the illustrations imaginative, and the colors shifted elegantly from the blunt American palette – the inks both vibrant and subtle. I loved them. I knew about Japanese artworks before I knew about the European impressionists who were so inspired by them. I knew the Japanese works so well that the impressionists seemed clumsy and heavy handed compared to the delicate craftsmanship of Japanese artists. Eventually the influence grew conduits in my mind, and I came to appreciate and enjoy both. (More on Japonisme soon.)
Below is a collection of Hiroshige prints featuring rain. The plants outside my window may be different, and my neighbors don’t wear yellow hats, but the rain looks much the same.
Utagawa Hiroshige: Travellers surprised by sudden rain
Yesterday I posted drawings by Stanley Lewis. Lewis was one of the influences listed by Charity Baker at the New York Studio School. Looking through Lewis’ art and writing, I found an interview on Painting Perceptions that talked about his methods, and his influences: “[Painting from perception] often feels like a horribly impossible thing to …
‘Let it be felt that the painter was there; consciously looking at the objects in their light already conceived from the beginning.’Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) Pierre Bonnard drew obsessively, on his daily walks in the country before breakfast, at breakfast, at lunch, at dinner, loafing around the house and garden, in cafés, in the streets, out of …
Today is the first part of a two part drawing. You can catch up tomorrow if you miss today, but don’t throw out your drawing for today! Thursday is Vocabulary day, and the word is sesquipedalian. The rare time this unusual word is introduced into conversation, it is to describe someone or something that overuses …
I’ve posted so many thoughts and artists since our visit from Carlos San Millan that you would be reasonable to think I was about finished. This may be difficult to believe, but I still have more to post. Way, way more to post. Many of you who were in the workshops said that you felt …
Hiroshige’s Rainy Moments
From Wikipedia:
As a child, I collected the little cards with Japanese prints that came in ochazuke (breakfast rice soup sprinkles). The compositions were asymmetrical (diagonals!), the illustrations imaginative, and the colors shifted elegantly from the blunt American palette – the inks both vibrant and subtle. I loved them. I knew about Japanese artworks before I knew about the European impressionists who were so inspired by them. I knew the Japanese works so well that the impressionists seemed clumsy and heavy handed compared to the delicate craftsmanship of Japanese artists. Eventually the influence grew conduits in my mind, and I came to appreciate and enjoy both. (More on Japonisme soon.)
Below is a collection of Hiroshige prints featuring rain. The plants outside my window may be different, and my neighbors don’t wear yellow hats, but the rain looks much the same.
Related Posts
Stanley Lewis talks about his mentor
Yesterday I posted drawings by Stanley Lewis. Lewis was one of the influences listed by Charity Baker at the New York Studio School. Looking through Lewis’ art and writing, I found an interview on Painting Perceptions that talked about his methods, and his influences: “[Painting from perception] often feels like a horribly impossible thing to …
Bonnard’s Interior and Figurative Drawings
‘Let it be felt that the painter was there; consciously looking at the objects in their light already conceived from the beginning.’Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) Pierre Bonnard drew obsessively, on his daily walks in the country before breakfast, at breakfast, at lunch, at dinner, loafing around the house and garden, in cafés, in the streets, out of …
30SAL Challenge: Sesquipedalian (Part 1 of 2)
Today is the first part of a two part drawing. You can catch up tomorrow if you miss today, but don’t throw out your drawing for today! Thursday is Vocabulary day, and the word is sesquipedalian. The rare time this unusual word is introduced into conversation, it is to describe someone or something that overuses …
Jessica Brilli
I’ve posted so many thoughts and artists since our visit from Carlos San Millan that you would be reasonable to think I was about finished. This may be difficult to believe, but I still have more to post. Way, way more to post. Many of you who were in the workshops said that you felt …