Image: Ōta Memorial Museum of Art, Tokyo
The Tokyo National Museum is holding a three-part exhibition commemorating its recent gift of 1,025 ukiyo-e prints from the collection of Uchiyama Susumu. The presentation features Utagawa Hiroshige’s most renowned prints in the landscape and bird-and-flower genres.
The exhibition is divided into three parts devoted to ‘The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō Road,’ ‘The Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kiso Road’ and ‘One Hundred Famous Views of Edo.’ The museum describes the exhibition as a globally unprecedented opportunity to view all three series in their entirety. All works on view will change in each part: Part One runs from September 29 to October 25, Part Two from October 27 to November 23, and Part Three from November 25 to December 20.
Hiroshige, who lived from 1797 to 1858, was primarily a commercial print designer working in ukiyo-e, a genre of woodblock prints and paintings depicting popular subjects. His striking landscapes evoking the changing seasons and vibrant images of birds and flowers marked the beginning of a new era in ukiyo-e.
Hiroshige captured the beauty of scenic places across Japan and established a unique place for himself through inventive compositional layouts. His approach also included clever methods of signaling shifts in time and weather and seamlessly integrating local inhabitants into scenic views.
Over the course of his life, Uchiyama built a high-quality collection of prints focused largely on Hiroshige’s works. He also made significant contributions to the popularization and study of ukiyo-e through exhibitions and publications showcasing his collection.
