Hiroshige Utagawa (Ando)  (1797-1858)

Hiroshige is often considered, along with Hokusai, the greatest Japanese printmaking artist in the 19th century. He is best known for his landscape prints. His use of perspective is known to have influenced Western impressionists such as Van Gogh and Claude Monet. Hiroshige was born in Edo, present Tokyo, as the son of Ando Genemon, a fire warden. His original name was Tokutaro. It is believed that he was already interested in drawing and painting when he was very little. When he was thirteen, his mother and father died one after another, and he succeeded his family's estate and his father's job. In 1811, Hiroshige attempted to enter the famous Utagawa printmaking school being run by Toyokuni I, who was famous for his actor and beauty prints. However, the school was already full and he was not allowed in. Then he tried another ukiyo- e master Toyohiro, known for his landscape print designs. That he became a student of Toyohiro, not Toyokuni, was a decisive factor of his success as a landscape artist. Later he was given by his teacher the artist name Hiroshige and allowed to use the family name of his teacher, Utagawa. It was around this time when he started using his pen name Ichiyusai. It is believed that his first published work was an illustration which appeared in a kyoka (comic poetry) book published in 1818. He also designed several beauty and actor prints. At the age of 25, he married his fellow fire warden?ǬÅfs daughter. About two years later he retired from his family's job and changed his name to Tetsuzo. Hiroshige studied Nanso-style painting with Ooka Unpo and around 1831, he changed his pen name to Ichiyusai (pronounced the same as his previous one but written differently) and created the print series "Famous Places of the Eastern Capital (Edo)". Hokusai began releasing his famous series "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji" in the same year. In 1832, Hiroshige changed his pen name to Ichiritsusai and decided to dedicate his entire energy to printmaking. In the same year, Bakufu, the then feudal government of Japan, ordered the artist to accompany an official procession from Edo to Kyoto, the then residence of the emperor, along the Tokaido road. Hiroshige made many sketches during the journey, resulting in the production of his famous, and perhaps greatest, series "From the Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Road" in the next two years. This series of landscape prints was a huge commercial success. He then designed more landscape prints including the series of masterpieces "Eight Views of Omi" and "Famous Places of Kyoto".It was also around this time when he produced the series of fish prints, Uo-zukishi, or "Fish Series", in which one can see his masterful skills in drawing from life. The public demand for Hiroshige's works became enormous. In 1837, Keisai Eisen, who was making a landscape print series "From the Sixty-nine Stations of Kisokaido Road", had some dispute with the publisher and quit the job after finishing 24 prints. Hiroshige was hired to complete the series and save the investment of the publisher. In 1839, Hiroshige's wife died. About three years later, he married his second wife. It was around this time when he started using his pen name Rissai. He began travelling frequently, making many sketches of landscapes. He also moved his residence several times in the next few years. In 1846, Hiroshige decided his nickname as Tokubei. Around 1850, he produced many paintings for Tendo feudal clan, perhaps to raise money to save this financially troubled clan. In 1856, at the age of 60, the creation of his last great series, "One Hundred Famous Places of Edo", started. However, two years later, Hiroshige died of cholera, never seeing the completion of this series. His daughter's husband, Hiroshige II, succeeded this job and completed few months after the great ukiyo-e master's death. Hiroshige is considered a prolific ukiyo-e artists and thought to have designed about 5400 prints.

Some Prints by Hiroshige Utagawa (Ando)   Online

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