Utagawa Hiroshige, master of landscape prints

Utagawa Hiroshige secured his place on the podium of printmaking masters with his “Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido” series created around 1833 , which brought him sudden and immediate fame. In these prints, the artist depicts the 53 stations along the route from Edo to Kyoto . This work is often compared to Katsushika Hokusai ‘s ‘Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji’ series, which includes the celebrated ‘ The Great Wave off Kanagawa ‘

Utagawa Hiroshige produced more than 5,400 prints throughout his career, in which he injected a particular atmosphere by depicting elements of his creations such as rain, fog, and snow. He also often placed characters or animals in the foreground before creating depth-of-field effects and did not hesitate to use various color gradients , particularly of his favorite color Prussian blue , earning him the nickname ” Hiroshige blue ” .

Born into a samurai family, Utagawa Hiroshige left weapons behind to pursue a career as an artist from the age of 14 . The young man had just lost his parents and threw himself fully into painting. He studied with the artist Utagawa Toyohiro, who introduced him to ukiyo-e , which can be translated as “i images of the floating world ” and which takes the form of woodblock prints.

His first steps in this artistic field consisted mainly of representing subjects that were in fashion at the time : portraits of women, actors or soldiers. However, after the death of his master in 1828, Utagawa Hiroshige turned to landscapes, and thus birds, flowers, gazebos and panoramas took shape on wood.

His work had a strong influence on late 19th century European artists , particularly the Impressionists who were immersed in the Japonisme current. Monet, Whistler, and Van Gogh were among those who drew inspiration from his work, adopting some of the codes of ukiyo-e such as stripes of colour.

Some of Utagawa Hiroshige’s works are in the Tokaido Hiroshige Museum of Art (静岡市東海道広重美術館) in Shizuoka City. In the museum they have workshops to create your own Hiroshige style Ukiyo-e! You can not lose this!

Which of his works do you like the most? Tell us in the comments!