Artist:                     Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) Japanese

Title:                       “Moored Boats in the Evening – A View of Eitai Bridge and Tsukuda Island (Eitaibashi Tsukudajima)” ¹

Date:                       ca. 1830

Medium:                Print

Materials:              Woodblock, ōban ² on Paper, woodcut

Markings:              Signed, Hiroshige ga, Censorship seal- aratame; dated seal: Snake 2 (1857/II) ³

Dimensions:          estimated 13-1/2” x  8-1/2”, paper approximately being 265 x 390mm;

Framed:                  Yes, this Block Print works of art has remained in the original frame when acquired by Mr. Prince and Mr. Hemphill, Jr.;

Provenance:          Neal Adair Prince Trust u/a/d 10.18.1999

Mr. Neal Prince

Mr. Neal Prince and Mr. Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr.¹,²

Roy Davis Gallery, 231 East 60^th Street, New York, New York 10022

Footnote¹:             From the Series One Hundred Famous Views in Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei),published by Uoya Eikichi, 1856-1858. This view past one of the piles of Eitai Bridge, shored up with extra timbers on the left, looks south towards the island of Tsukudajima in the Bayb of Edo. Built in 1698, Eitai Bridge was the last and the widest bridge over the Sumida River. Behind the bridge a few fishermen are trying to attract fish with blazing torches.

Footnote²:             ōban, meaning literally “large block”, a size of paper used for prints that measures approximately 265 x 390 mm.

Footnote³:             aratame, meaning literally ‘examined’, the censorship seal that appears on nearly all prints issued from 1853/II to 1871

Ando Hiroshige (1797-1858), Japanese

Ando Hiroshige was born under the name of Ando Tokutaro. He was born in Edo (Tokyo) as the son of a samurai and fireman. At the age of twelve, both his parents died. Two years later, in 1811, the young Hiroshige received a chance to join the famous Utagawa painting school. At that time, the ukiyo-e master Toyohiro Utagawa was the head of the studio. In 1812 he was formally allowed to take the name Utagawa. From then on he called himself Utagawa Hiroshige. In the ukiyo-e literature he is usually referenced as Hiroshige Ando. The first work by Utagawa Hiroshige was a book illustration published in 1818, when he was only 21 years of age. Until 1830, Hiroshige created prints in the traditional style of mannerism, as learned from his master Toyohiro Utagawa. His early commissions were book illustrations. Typical, they were subjects from that period, known as the kabuki actors prints, being beautiful women and a few warrior prints. From 1830 on, Hiroshige Utagawa tried his luck with a new genre - landscape prints. One of his great masterpieces were the series Tokaido gojusan-tsugi no uchi, created from 1833 to 1834 with 55 Hiroshige prints in oban format. In the literature form, you will find various, but slightly varying English translations, like the Fifty-three Stages of the Tokaido, or the From the Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido. At the end of his life, Hiroshige had produced 16 to 19 editions of the Tokaido. His last great series were the Meisho Edo Hyakkei, One Hundred Famous Views of Edo is considered as one of his greatest masterpieces. During his lifetime, Ando Hiroshige was well known and commercially successful. But the Japanese society did not take too much notice of him. Comparable to Utamaro, his real reputation started with his discovery in Europe. Hiroshige Utagawa died at the age of 62 of cholera on October 12, 1858 in Edo.