Hiroshige: Landscape, Cityscape : Woodblock Prints in the Ashmolean Museum

Illustrated discussion of over 50 prints from the Ashmolean Museum's collection serving as an introduction to the life and work of Utagawa Hiroshige. The art and process of Japanese wood-block print making is also covered.

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) is one of the best known of all Japanese woodblock print designers. He is particularly renowned for his landscape prints, which are among the most frequently reproduced of all Japanese works of art. Hiroshige''s landscape prints were hugely successful both in Japan and in the West. Their unusual compositions, humorous depictions of people involved in everyday activities and masterly expression of weather, light and seasons, proved enormously influential on many leading European artists. Aimed at a general audience, this book illustrates and discusses 53 Hiroshige landscape prints in the Ashmolean Museum''s collection and explores their historical background. It gives a concise introduction to Hiroshige''s life and career within the context of Japan''s booming nineteenth-century woodblock print industry and explores the development of the landscape print as a new genre in this period. It also discusses and illustrates the process and techniques of traditional Japanese woodblock print-making.Contents:How to ''read'' a Japanese Print, Preface, Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) Woodblock Print Designer, Making a Japanese Woodblock Print, I Views along the Tokaido, II Views of the Provinces, III Views of Edo, IV Views of Mount Fuji, Further Reading.