Utagawa Hiroshige

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Posthumous portrait of Hiroshige by Kunisada , “Gedächtnisbild”, 1858

Utagawa Hiroshige ( Japanese 歌 川 広 重 , old spelling: 歌 川 廣 重 , * 1797 in Edo (today: Tokyo ), † October 12, 1858 ) was, together with Kuniyoshi and Kunisada, one of the three stylistic masters of Japanese woodblock prints at the end of the Edo period . Its special significance lies in a completely new composition of the landscape prints of its time and its decisive influence on the development of European impressionism .

He is also known under the name Andō Hiroshige , an incorrectly used combination of his real family name Andō with the stage name Hiroshige given to him by his teacher , to which the name of the Utagawa school must be added.

Life dates

Utagawa Hiroshige was born in 1797 as Andō Tokutarō ( 安藤 徳 太郎 ) in the district of Yayosugashi (today Marunouchi in the district of Chiyoda ) in Edo, today's Tokyo. His nicknames in later years were Jūemon ( 重 右衛門 ), Tokubē ( 徳 兵衛 ) and for a while Tetsuzō.

Hiroshige, bijin, series “Eight Views - Women and Landscapes in Comparison”, early 1820s

His father was Mitsuemon Genemon, who had been adopted by Andō Jūemon and from this the hereditary office of a subordinate fire officer ( Hikeshi Dōshin , "administrator of the association for fire fighting") had taken over in the service of Bakufu . As a servant of Bakufu, he was a member of the samurai class, his area of ​​activity was the Yayosugashi district.

Tokutaro's mother died in February 1809. In the same month, his father handed over the office of fire officer to him, and a few months later, towards the end of the year, his father also died. All that is known of his three sisters is that the eldest had died in 1800.

Tokutaro was the superior of a small group of firefighters. His living conditions were modest. The salary associated with the office was just enough to provide two people with rice for a year. He had to share the ten barracks in which the fire department was housed with 30 other officers and 300 crews and their families. Like other members of the lowest ranks of the samurai, the Gokenin , he was forced to look for other sources of income. Gokenin families were often engaged in homework such as making umbrellas, boxes, and wooden sandals.

Early Hiroshige print, series "Eight Views of the Eastern Capital", koban, 1820s

The duties of a fire officer in Edo at the beginning of the 19th century were apparently not particularly extensive and so Tokutarō had time to begin an apprenticeship as a color woodcut draftsman. It is completely unclear why he chose this artisanal, middle-class profession in order to earn an extra income for his living.

He had received unofficial painting lessons in the style of the Kanō school from one of his superiors and friends, Okajima Rinzō (or Rinsai). For a member of the samurai class, even of the lowest rank, this would be nothing out of the ordinary, as calligraphy and basic painting skills were part of their standard training. According to Forrer, the signature of a painting allegedly preserved from his childhood, which shows an embassy from the King of the Ryūkyū Islands to the Shogun, and which is supposed to prove his early extraordinary drawing ability, is doubtful, according to Forrer, and even if it could be ascribed to Hiroshige, it would not leave any special Recognize talent.

Hiroshige, Ono no Komachi, from an early and rare series of poets, around 1825

According to tradition, Tokutarō initially applied for an apprenticeship with the most respected woodcut artist of his time, Utagawa Toyokuni I, but was rejected by him. With the help of a wealthy owner of a lending library, he was finally able to begin his training in 1810 or 1811 with the lesser-known Utagawa Toyohiro . From this he received, as is proven by a traditional letter, already in 1812 the permission to use the school name Utagawa and the stage name Hiroshige. What was unusual was that he had received this permission before completing the apprenticeship. It is highly unlikely, however, that this circumstance was due to his extraordinary talent, as is often claimed in literature. From this period there are no works signed by Hiroshige (a print allegedly from his brush from 1813 can be dated to 1819 according to Forrer) and also the works that he signed after completing his apprenticeship in 1818 and the ten following years do not show any above-average abilities, rather the opposite is the case.

Hiroshige, "28 Views of the Moon" series, early 1830s

During his apprenticeship, the prospective graphic artist was like all other apprentices with learning the basic techniques of painting and drawing including Uki-e , tracing the work of the teacher and other respected woodcut masters, with studying other painting schools such as the Nanga - and the Shijō - School and from time to time busy designing book illustrations. Toyohiro himself, like other Ukiyo-e artists, drew designs for actor and kabuki prints ( Yakusha-e ), pictures of beautiful women ( Bijin-ga ), prints of historical events ( Musha-e ), and cityscapes of Edo ( Meisho-e ) and illustrations for the popular Ehon .

Hiroshige, the poet Ariwara no Narihira, chūban, around 1830

Until around 1827, Hiroshige received only a few orders for print designs from publishers. A number of book illustrations, kabuki prints, bijin-ga and musha-e were created , all of which are particularly inspired by his contemporary Kunisada, and occasionally there are echoes of Kuniyoshi. However, he did not match the quality of his role models and M. Forrer describes these early prints as curiosities.

In 1823 Tokutarō / Hiroshige had passed on his office as a fire officer to his adopted son Nakajirō, for whom he worked as a deputy for a few years. In 1828 his teacher Toyohiro died, who had offered him before his death to take over his studio and his name. However, Hiroshige would have refused for unknown reasons. From 1827 until 1830 Hiroshige is not known to have any work, only afterwards did he receive small orders for the design of surimono and probably designed his first "Bird and Flowers" prints. Around 1831 his first series of 21 sheets, “Famous Views of the Eastern Capital”, appeared. These prints, executed in a hitherto unknown manner, have evidently met with public approval, they have already been printed in several editions. Hiroshige then received his first, really important commission: he was to draw the designs for a series of 55 prints of the stations on Tōkai Street. In the following year, the first prints of the series " The 53 stations of Tōkaidō " appeared. By 1834 and 1836 at the latest, all of the prints in the series were completed and were sold as complete scrapbooks with title page and table of contents, a special indication that they were met with brisk demand from buyers. With the prints of this series, which include some of Hiroshige's best-known works, he established his reputation as the draftsman of landscapes for color woodcuts in the last three decades of the Edo period. In the years up to his death in 1858 he received numerous commissions for the design of colored woodcuts and color woodcut series. Some authors put the number of print drafts drawn by Hiroshige at around 8,000; a more realistic number would be 4,000 to 4,500, plus the numerous illustrations for around 120 books. He not only drew the designs for landscape prints , but also for fans, envelopes, bijin-ga , "bird and flowers" prints ( kacho-ga ), game boards, and genji prints.

Hiroshige, Waterfall and Deer, early 1830s
Hiroshige, "Fish" series, Graubarbe, ōban, around 1834/35

Despite this enormous amount of work, he was unable to acquire great wealth with his craft. He was paid twice as much for his designs as the workers who worked on the Shinagawa fortifications. The orders for his paintings, some dozen of which have survived, and for which their private clients have paid for every single up to an annual income of a simple laborer, have helped to improve his financial situation.

Hiroshige, "Fish" series, shrimp and mackerel, ōban, around 1834/35

Otherwise, not much is known about the life of Hiroshige. An autobiography that he is said to have written burned in 1876. A first wife died in 1839. Uspenski mentions the death of a son named Tojirō in 1845. From his second marriage to Oyasu, the daughter of a farmer named Kaemon, he had a daughter, Otatsu. She was married to Shigenobu, the adopted son and master student of Hiroshige, who was named Hiroshige II after the teacher's death in 1858. Only after the death of his first wife Hiroshige moved out of the fire brigade barracks, first to the district of Oga-chō, then to Tokiwa-chō and finally around 1850 to Nakabashi Kanō Shindō, all addresses within the urban area of ​​Edo. After 1840, several extended trips to the provinces of Japan are documented (1841 to the province of Kai, 1844 to the peninsula Bōsō, 1845 to the province of Mutsu and 1848 to Shinano), on which numerous sketches of the respective landscapes were made, which were later printed in drafts and Paintings were drawn up.

Hiroshige died at the age of 62; He is buried in a Buddhist temple in the Edo district of Asakusa . In the two years preceding his death, he drew the designs for his last series “ 100 Famous Views of Edo ”. This series was his artistic legacy. The prints show his hometown Edo from its most beautiful side and they show Hiroshige at the height of his artistic creativity. The series includes many of his best work, such as: B. the eagle over the snow-covered plain of Jūmantsubo or the rain shower over the great bridge of Atake.

Signatures

Most of Hiroshige's works are labeled “Hiroshige ga” or “Hiroshige hitsu”, some books are signed “Utashige” ( 歌 重 ) (1830–44).

Nicknames (gō names) used by him were Ichiyūsai (from 1818 to 1830 with the Kanji " 一 勇 斎 " and 1830/31 with the Kanji " 一 幽 斎 " written), Ichiryūsai ( 一 立 斎 ) from 1832 to 1842 and Ryūsai ( 立 斎 ) from 1842 to 1858. The seal "Tōkaidō" was occasionally used on paintings in addition to the name.

student

  • Utagawa Hiroshige II. (1826–69), former stage name Shigenobu; after the death of Hiroshige I, he took over his name, after the divorce from Hiroshige's daughter Otatsu in 1865 he called himself Shigenobu ( 重 宣 ) again, he also used the name Risshō ( 立 祥 ).
  • Utagawa Hiroshige III. (1842–94), former stage names Shigemasa ( 重 政 ) and Hiromasa ( 広 政 ), took over the teacher's name after his marriage to Otatsu in 1865.
  • Utagawa Hirokage ( 広 景 , active between 1855 and 1865).
  • Nakayama Sugakudō (active between 1850 and 1860).

In addition, F. Schwan lists Shigemasa, Shigemaru, Shigefusa, Shigehisa, Shigeyoshi, Shigehana, Shigetoshi and Shikō (all without further information).

plant

Hiroshige's first confirmed work was published in 1818. There were illustrations for the "Book of Poems by Murasaki" as well as some actor prints. The following year he designed his first surimono . In 1820 he designed some series with pictures of women ( Bijin-ga ), some warrior pictures ( Musha-e ) and illustrated some books. Up to 1827 similar prints followed, supplemented by a few landscape series with small-format prints and other surimono . Shortly after 1830 he received the order from the publisher Kawaguchiya Shozō to design the first series entitled "Famous Views of the Eastern Capital". A second series of the same name with 28 sheets was commissioned by Sanoya Kihei around 1833/34.

The Kambara station from the series " The 53 Stations of Tōkaidō "

One or two years earlier, around 1832/33, Hiroshige had received the order from the publisher Takenouchi Magohachi ( Hōeidō ) to design 55 prints of his first Tōkaidō series ( "The 53 Stations of Tōkaidō", known as Hōeidō Tōkaidō ). With this series he established his reputation as the leading artist of landscape printing of his time.

Many prints in the series are inspired by illustrations of well-known travel guides such as the Tōkaidō meisho zue ("Collected views of beautiful places along the Tōkaidō"), first compiled by Akisato Ritō in 1797 and repeatedly reissued in the following years . What was new about Hiroshige's artistic conception of landscape was that he made "lively street scenes with people from the common people who went about their business on the main street (the) object of artistic discussion". Such genre scenes had previously been drawn by Toyohiro and Hokusai, among others . What was new about Hiroshige's pictures was the harmonious integration of the portrayal of people into extensive landscapes. He created lyrical pictures in which the viewer could directly perceive the mood of nature, untroubled by philosophical reflections on nature and man. Hiroshiges people carry burdens, but they are not burdened. With this he met the taste of broad sections of the population and implemented the idea of ukiyo as the “cheerful, transitory world” in the Japanese landscape print. It is estimated that up to 20,000 copies of the first printing plates were made of individual sheets of the series until they were no longer usable. New panels had already been cut in the 19th century in order to produce additional editions. Further reprints followed in the 20th century, and even in the 3rd millennium, prints from this series are still sold as woodblock prints.

Series “Eight Views of Lake Biwa”, evening bell at the Mi Temple, 1st edition in gray tones
Series “Eight Views of Lake Biwa”, evening bell at the Mi Temple, later edition printed with several color plates

Around 1835, also on behalf of Takenouchi Magohachi, the series “Eight Views of Ōmi” (known as “ Eight Views of Lake Biwa ”) was created, which is undoubtedly one of his masterpieces. In the first edition only printed in shades of gray, the prints of the series show the great landscape around one of the most popular lakes in Japan in an atmospheric way. In order to meet the public's taste, however, a few color plates had to be added for later editions. In 1836/37 Hiroshige began to draw prints for the series "The 69 Stations of the Kisokaidō". The publisher Iseya Rihei took over this project from Magohachi, who initially commissioned Keisai Eisen to design the prints and who had delivered 24 designs by 1836. Hiroshige did not complete the last drafts for this very extensive series until 1841.

From 1835 to the mid-1850s, several thousand Meisho-e prints ("Pictures of Beautiful Places") were created, mostly showing the stations of the Tokaidō and the excursion places in and around Edo, but also views of Osaka and Kyōto. Ultimately, variations on one and the same theme, often of questionable artistic value: superficially drawn and mostly of poor print quality, so that they can be sold cheaply as souvenirs to travelers and day trippers. In the 1840s Hiroshige participated with some designs in the series of "Hundred Poets" and the "Parallel Pictures to Tōkaidō" produced together with Kunisada and Kuniyoshi. And in the 1850s, several series were created in cooperation with Kunisada. Among other things, the 50 prints from the series “Famous Restaurants in the Eastern Capital” (1852) and the 55 prints from the series “The Tōkai Street from two brushes (painted)” (1857). For all joint series, Kunisada drew the figures in the foreground and Hiroshige the background or the cartouches of the background images. A particularly successful example of this collaboration were the triptychs of the series “A Modern Genji” from 1853, of which eight designs are known.

Hiroshige's mastery in the design of landscape prints reached a new high point in the 1850s, despite the fact that mass goods were produced at the same time.

Series "36 Views of Mount Fuji"

Impressive images of the great landscape of Japan were created in high-format prints of the best print quality: 1853–56 in the series “ Famous Places in the More than 60 Provinces of Japan ”, 1855 in the series “The 53 Stations of Tōkaidō” (which he was here for the last time alone drew) and in 1858 in “The 36 Views of Mount Fuji” (actually the last series drawn by Hiroshige). Uoya Eikichi finally produced the portrait series “ A Hundred Famous Views of Edo ”. A total of 118 sheets were published in the years 1856-58, deviating from the title, three of them drawn by his master student Shigenobu (Hiroshige II) (after the death of Hiroshige I, Hiroshige II drew a draft of another print in 1859, which will be used in later Editions replaced the sheet "Paulownien in Akasaka"). Hiroshige himself described the prints in this series as his best work that would represent his artistic legacy.

In the course of his career, Hiroshige has drawn designs for the entire spectrum of Japanese woodblock prints. His few plays, warriors and Chūshingura prints are not very convincing. More impressive, on the other hand, are its numerous "birds and flowers" prints, which atmospherically reflect impressions of nature. Appealing prints can also be found among his around 500 designs for fan prints and the occasional bijin-ga . Valued and sought after by collectors and museums are also several hundred paintings that he had painted to order for his contemporary admirers.

influence

left: Hiroshige , "Garden of the Plum Trees in Kameido"
right: Van Gogh , "Flowering Plum Tree"
left: Hiroshige , "rain shower over the great bridge in Atake"
right: Van Gogh , "bridge in the rain"

The influence of Japanese woodcuts and especially Hiroshige's influence on Impressionist painting is particularly evident in two paintings by Vincent van Gogh , which were created in Paris in 1887. The models for this were two prints from the series “A Hundred Famous Views of Edo”, “Garden of the Plum Trees in Kameido” and “Rain Showers over the Great Bridge in Atake” (the prints are part of Van Gogh's preserved collection of almost 500 Japanese prints Woodcuts that contain a total of approx. 75 Hiroshige prints). Both of van Gogh's paintings were still influenced by Parisian Japonism , his own style was still undeveloped and the lines were weak. The strong, flat color contrasts already give an idea of ​​its further development. A little later he consistently implemented the essential elements of the Japanese woodblock print (clear lines, stylized forms and colored areas) in the technique of western oil painting. Other congenial artists such as Paul Gauguin and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec took up this new style of painting.

literature

  • Cynthea J. Bogel, ea: Hiroshige - Flowers and Birds . Munich, 1988, ISBN 3-7913-0884-X
  • Julian Bicknell: Hiroshige in Tokyo - The Floating World of Edo . San Francisco, 1994, ISBN 1-56640-803-2 .
  • Herbert Bräutigam: Hiroshige and the life in Edo around 1850, in: Small contributions from the Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden Vol. 9 . Dresden, 1988.
  • Timothy Clark: Ukioy-e Paintings in the British Museum . London, 1992, ISBN 0-7141-1460-X .
  • Yang Enlin: Ando Hiroshige, 'Sailor Art Portfolio ' . Leipzig, 1990.
  • Rupert Faulkner: Hiroshige Fan Prints . London, 2001, ISBN 1-85177-332-0 .
  • Matti Forrer: Hiroshige - Prints and Drawings . Munich, London, New York, 2001, ISBN 3-7913-2594-9 .
  • Friese, Gordon: KEISAI EISEN - UTAGAWA HIROSHIGE. The 69 stations of the Kisokaidō. A complete series of Japanese woodblock prints and their print variants . Unna, 2008.
  • Oliver R. Impey: Hiroshige's Views of Mount Fuji . Oxford, 2001, ISBN 1-85444-156-6 .
  • Marije Jansen: Hiroshige's journey in the 60-odd provinces . Leiden, 2004, ISBN 90-74822-60-6 .
  • Amy G. Poster, Henry D. Smith II: Hiroshige - One Hundred Famous Views of Edo . New York, 1986, ISBN 0-8076-1143-3 .
  • Isaburo Oka: Hiroshige - Japan's Great Landscape Artist . Tokyo, London, New York, 1992 [TB 1997], ISBN 4-7700-2121-6 .
  • Charlotte van Rappard-Boon: Catalog of the Collection of Japanese Prints Part IV. Hiroshige and the Utagawa school - Japanese prints, c. 1810-1860 . Amsterdam, 1984.
  • Adele Schlombs: Hiroshige. 1797-1858. Master of Japanese Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints. Cologne, Taschen 2010. ISBN 978-3-8365-2358-5 .
  • Michail Uspenski, Hiroshige - A Hundred Views of Edo . Bournemouth, 1997, ISBN 1-85995-332-8 .

Remarks

  1. ↑ This date is not certain, it can only be found in the text of the memorial image of Hiroshige made by Kunisada I on the occasion of his death in 1858. See: Forrer, p. 11.
  2. ↑ See English Wikipedia, Note 2: “The firemen of his day appear to have actually spent most of their time gambling, drinking, or otherwise amusing themselves.” (Own translation: “The firemen of his time seem to be most of their time having spent playing, drinking and other amusements ”), p. 2 of Ando Hiroshige , authored by Professor Seiichirō Takahashi (head of the Japan Art Academy and Minister of Education in 1947), trans. by Charles S. Terry; published by the Charles E. Tuttle Company in 1956.
  3. ↑ The story that the designs for the prints in this series can be traced back to Hiroshige's own sketches, which were made in 1832 on the occasion of a delegation trip on behalf of the Shogun to the imperial court in Kyoto, must be considered dubious. The story comes from Hiroshige III, a student of Hiroshige, who is said to have told it to Hiroshige's first biographer, Iijima Kyōshin, who published it in 1894 (Forrer, p. 17). There is no scientifically verifiable evidence for this.
  4. ↑ According to the information on the “artelino” website, Otatsu was an adopted daughter.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Forrer, p. 11
  2. ↑ a b c d Oka, p. 69
  3. ↑ a b Bogel, p. 10
  4. ↑ a b Oka, p. 70
  5. ↑ a b c d Article "Hiroshige" on the English Wikipedia
  6. ↑ a b Oka, p. 71
  7. ↑ a b c Forrer, p. 12
  8. ^ Forrer, p. 13
  9. ^ Oka, p. 74
  10. ↑ Bogel, p. 10
  11. ↑ In: Utagawa retsuden ["The life of the Utagawa artists"] by Ijjima Kyōshin, quoted from Oka, p. 74
  12. ^ Andreas Marks: Kunisada's Tōkaidō. Riddles in Japanese Woodblock Prints. Hotei Publishing, Leiden 2013, ISBN 9789004191464 , p. 46. (English)
  13. ↑ Setsuko Kuwabara: Hōeidō-ban, Hiroshige: Tōkaidō Gojūsan tsugi. In: Andon 77 , Society for Japanese Arts, November 2004, p. 51. (English)
  14. ^ Oka, p. 67
  15. ↑ Forrer, p. 25
  16. ↑ Takahashi Seiichirō, Hiroshige , quoted from Oka, p. 68
  17. ↑ Uspenski, p. 14
  18. ↑ a b Clark, p. 182
  19. ^ Friedrich B. Schwan: Handbook Japanese Woodcut. Backgrounds, techniques, themes and motifs . Iudicium, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-89129-749-1 , p. 247.

Web links

Commons : Utagawa Hiroshige  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Andō or Utagawa is the family name, Hiroshige the first name.
personal data
SURNAME Utagawa, Hiroshige
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Andō, Hiroshige; Ichiyusai Hiroshige; Hiroshige
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese artist
DATE OF BIRTH 1797
PLACE OF BIRTH Edo
DATE OF DEATH October 12, 1858