Japanese Art
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About Utagawa Hiroshige
Hiroshige was born in the year 1797 and named "Tokutarō, within the city of Edo, to Andō Gen'emon, a hereditary retainer of the shogun. He was an official within the fire-fighting organization whose duty was to protect Edo Castle from fire. Hiroshige would be born in the Yayosu barracks, just east of Edo Castle. Indeed, not only would he be born and raised there, he would succeed his father and live there until he turned 43 years of age. Gen'emon died in 1809, when Hiroshige was just 13 years old, forcing him to take his father's position early. He did not shirk his duties as a fire-fighter, fulfilling them even when he had become an acclaimed wood-block print artist. He eventually turned his position over to Hiroshige II, his adopted heir, in 1832. Legend has it that Hiroshige determined to become a ukiyo-e artist when he saw the prints of his near-contemporary, Hokusai. More likely though, like many other low-ranked samurai, Hiroshige's salary was insufficient for his needs, and this motivated him to look into artisanal crafts to supplement his income. It was easy to balance his job and his artisanal pursuits, as a fireman was only intermittently busy. His natural inclination towards drawing led to an apprenticeship at the age of 15 with the noted Utagawa Toyohiro, who bestowed upon him the name Hiroshige. Hiroshige would also take his master's name, which is how he came to be known as Utagawa Hiroshige.
In his early apprenticeship, he showed little sign of the artistic genius he would later be known for; he largely confined himself to common ukiyo-e themes such as women and actors; nor did he fully devote himself to his art. Only when he was 27 did he transfer the headship of his clan to his uncle. But Hiroshige made a dramatic turn about, when after 17 years, Toyohiro died, and Hiroshige came out with the landscape series Views of Edo (1831), which was critically acclaimed for its composition and colors. 100 Famous Views of Edo (1856 – 1858) was immensely popular, and eventually reached a total of 118 print, where Hiroshige had intended only about 100. In fact, not all of the prints were by him, as he perished aged 62 in the great Edo cholera epidemic of 1858, in the Ninth Month.
Hiroshige
was the younger rival of Katsushika Hokusai. His series of prints Fifty-three
Stations of the Tokaido (1833 – 1834) and 100 Famous Views of
Edo (1856 – 1858) would influence French impressionists like
Monetand
Vincent Van Gogh would copy two of the Hundred Famous Views of Edo.
