color woodblock print, ink on paper, 26x40.5 cm, signed by the artist; in the margin, the publisher’s seal and the craftsmen’s marks: carved by Endo, printed by Ito Tomo
Although Hiroshige designed this series of snow-covered landscapes in the 1840s, it was not printed for the first time until the 1920s, when the artist’s original black-and-white sketches were discovered in Paris. The reason these prints were not published during Hiroshige’s lifetime remains a mystery. The first publisher (from the 1920s), Shotaro Sato, suggests that the original publisher may have died or gone bankrupt, leading to the sale of the designs and their subsequent shipment to Europe. The first printing of these landscapes was a painstaking process, as Hiroshige’s surviving snowy scenes and his color schemes had to be carefully studied before the colors could be selected.
Hiroshige Andō, also known as Hiroshige Utagawa, is one of Japan’s most famous painters and printmakers. His father, Andō Genuemon, was a low-ranking samurai and an officer in the fire brigade. From the age of sixteen, Hiroshige trained in the studio of Utagawa Toyohira, under whose guidance he developed his skills and talent. The young Hiroshige soaked up the artistic atmosphere while also helping with the day-to-day operations of his father’s fire brigade. It wasn’t until he was 27 that he decided to devote himself entirely to his artistic career. After his teacher’s death in 1822, he was offered the chance to take over his master’s studio, but Hiroshige declined the offer and chose to work independently. Hiroshige’s artistic output has not yet been fully cataloged, but it is estimated that he produced approximately 5,000 works, primarily in the technique of color woodblock printing. He began his career with portraits of beautiful women (bijin-ga) and depictions of kabuki actors (yakusha-e), but after his teacher’s death, he focused primarily on native landscapes. Hiroshige came from a samurai family, yet he identified with Edo’s bourgeois culture. He became famous primarily as the creator of landscape series such as: Fifty-Three Stations on the Tōkaidō (Tōkaidō gojūsan tsugi no uchi), One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei), and Sixty-Nine Stations on the Kisokaidō Road(Kisokaidō rokujūkyū tsugi no uchi). He masterfully depicted landscapes at various times of the year and day, and he was fascinated by weather phenomena. He experimented with effects and composition, employing unconventional foreshortening techniques. A distinctive feature of his work is his depiction of atmospheric phenomena such as snowfall, rain, gales, and storms. He was also fascinated by the phenomenon of shadow and its effects in both landscapes and domestic interiors.
Ukiyo-e woodblock prints have been printed repeatedly since the Edo period, always using traditional methods. Oedo Mokuhansha is a respected Tokyo-based publisher where, as in many traditional companies, the craft of woodblock printing was passed down from generation to generation. In the 1950s, during a resurgence of interest in ukiyo-e, Mokuhansha began reprinting Hiroshige’s works with exquisite coloration and in strict accordance with the rules of woodblock printmaking.
