Edo - Images of a city between visual poetry and idealized reality
By Melanie Trede. Excerpt from the book 'Hiroshige. One Hundred Famous Views of Edo'
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In 1887, Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) copied the prints Plum Park in Kameido and Sudden Shower over Shino- hashi Bridge and Atake. Hiroshige, who himself confronted the principles of Western linear perspective in his work, thus became a dual protagonist in the artistic dialogue between Japan and Europe of the late 19th century. The success of the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo is
not due to Hiroshige alone. Thanks to the technical sophistication of the wood cutters and printers, the first impressions achieved an altogether painterly quality, and the publisher Sakanaya Eikichi (life dates unknown) played his key role by commissioning the series in the first place, advancing the materials and fees, and then distributing the prints, all at considerable financial risk to himself.
While the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo sold extremely well, this success was not altogether positive. Numerous later impressions (atozuri) found their way to Europe, and, being printed with fewer color woodblocks, did not display the typical elaborate and time-consuming color gradations as did the first impressions (shozuri). They were in fact merely cheap copies of the original masterpieces. Thus the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo as a whole, or individual prints, were occasionally described in the art literature as garish trivialities, heralding the end of the ukiyo-e woodblock print as an art form. The magnitude of the discrepancy between first and later impressions became apparent to a broader public only when high-quality color reproductions became available in the second half of the 20th century. The series in the Ota Memorial Museum of Art in Tokyo, which is that reproduced in the present volume, is one of the few complete series consisting entirely of impressions from the first print run.
The Subjects of the Woodblock Prints
The popularity of the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo is due not least to the selection of sites. Temple and shrine precincts are to be found along with busy streets, public parks and pure landscapes, often with a background extending into the far distance and featuring many rivers, canals and bridges. Not quite 40 per cent of the prints show places never previously depicted. Hiroshige and his publishers hoped to use this element of surprise to increase sales. In this sense, Hiroshige invented "new traditions" and with his own series at the same time recalled "pictures of famous places" (meishoe), a tradition that extended back to the 10th century. These pictures, which had circulated among the elite since the Heian period (794-1185), took up poetic allusions to seasonal specialities of the places in question, an aspect which in Hiroshige's newly chosen views is not very prominent. However, every educated Japanese would immediately have linked "one hundred", in the context of famous places, with One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each (Hyakunin isshu), a widely disseminated collection dating from the early 13th century and known quite generally in the 19th century through numerous imitations and parodies.
As Tsuzumi Tsuneyoshi (1887-1981) remarks in his 1929 book The Art of Japan, it was "an invention of the ukiyo-e painters, in particular Hiroshige, to represent densely populated areas as landscape pictures". Indeed, almost every print either includes human figures, or else hints at their presence. In these pictures, Hiroshige, unlike his famous older contemporary Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), rarely focuses on labour. Instead, he depicts Edo's different social classes and sometimes also visitors to the city, especially on the occasion of seasonal customs and festivities and when engaging in tourist or leisure activities. Even though a certain melancholy emanates from some scenes, Hiroshige presents an Edo of manifold attractions, unspoilt idylls and prosperity.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4]
In 1887, Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) copied the prints Plum Park in Kameido and Sudden Shower over Shino- hashi Bridge and Atake. Hiroshige, who himself confronted the principles of Western linear perspective in his work, thus became a dual protagonist in the artistic dialogue between Japan and Europe of the late 19th century. The success of the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo is
not due to Hiroshige alone. Thanks to the technical sophistication of the wood cutters and printers, the first impressions achieved an altogether painterly quality, and the publisher Sakanaya Eikichi (life dates unknown) played his key role by commissioning the series in the first place, advancing the materials and fees, and then distributing the prints, all at considerable financial risk to himself.
While the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo sold extremely well, this success was not altogether positive. Numerous later impressions (atozuri) found their way to Europe, and, being printed with fewer color woodblocks, did not display the typical elaborate and time-consuming color gradations as did the first impressions (shozuri). They were in fact merely cheap copies of the original masterpieces. Thus the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo as a whole, or individual prints, were occasionally described in the art literature as garish trivialities, heralding the end of the ukiyo-e woodblock print as an art form. The magnitude of the discrepancy between first and later impressions became apparent to a broader public only when high-quality color reproductions became available in the second half of the 20th century. The series in the Ota Memorial Museum of Art in Tokyo, which is that reproduced in the present volume, is one of the few complete series consisting entirely of impressions from the first print run.
The Subjects of the Woodblock Prints
The popularity of the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo is due not least to the selection of sites. Temple and shrine precincts are to be found along with busy streets, public parks and pure landscapes, often with a background extending into the far distance and featuring many rivers, canals and bridges. Not quite 40 per cent of the prints show places never previously depicted. Hiroshige and his publishers hoped to use this element of surprise to increase sales. In this sense, Hiroshige invented "new traditions" and with his own series at the same time recalled "pictures of famous places" (meishoe), a tradition that extended back to the 10th century. These pictures, which had circulated among the elite since the Heian period (794-1185), took up poetic allusions to seasonal specialities of the places in question, an aspect which in Hiroshige's newly chosen views is not very prominent. However, every educated Japanese would immediately have linked "one hundred", in the context of famous places, with One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each (Hyakunin isshu), a widely disseminated collection dating from the early 13th century and known quite generally in the 19th century through numerous imitations and parodies.
As Tsuzumi Tsuneyoshi (1887-1981) remarks in his 1929 book The Art of Japan, it was "an invention of the ukiyo-e painters, in particular Hiroshige, to represent densely populated areas as landscape pictures". Indeed, almost every print either includes human figures, or else hints at their presence. In these pictures, Hiroshige, unlike his famous older contemporary Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), rarely focuses on labour. Instead, he depicts Edo's different social classes and sometimes also visitors to the city, especially on the occasion of seasonal customs and festivities and when engaging in tourist or leisure activities. Even though a certain melancholy emanates from some scenes, Hiroshige presents an Edo of manifold attractions, unspoilt idylls and prosperity.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4]
Hiroshige. One Hundred Famous Views of Edo
Japanese binding + bookcase, 34 x 42.5 cm (13.4 x 16.7 in.), 294 pages
$ 150.00
$ 150.00
Hiroshige's Edo: Masterful ukiyo-e woodblock prints of Tokyo in the mid-19th century
Fireworks by Ryo - goku Bridge (detail), 8-1858
The Ayase River and Kanegafuchi, 7-1857