1858
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Tsukudajima from Eitai Bridge, from the series One Hundred Views of Famous Places in Edo is a 1858 by Utagawa Hiroshige, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a busy river scene at dusk: boats glide under a bridge, tiny figures walk along the shore, and a small island sits far away. Hiroshige squeezed two famous spots into one print, but the island and bridge are almost too small to notice. The real star is the deep blue water and the soft pink sky—colors made by layering ink on woodblocks. Look up *Japanese woodblock prints* next to see how this technique works.
This woodblock print is from the series of landscape views of Edo, present-day Tokyo, from Hiroshige’s late career. The series title is in the dark red rectangular cartouche on the upper right, while the name of the print is in the pink square. Although Tsukudajima and Eitai Bridge are important enough to merit mentions in the title, the island is tiny and in the distance at the mouth of the river, and only part of a bridge piling is visible. Hiroshige’s dramatic composition instead foregrounds the oar of a passing boat. Other vessels in the middle distance moored under the starry sky.…
Moonlight casts a glow on the masts and ships at anchor, and stars dust the evening sky.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川 広重) or Andō Hiroshige (安藤 広重), born Andō Tokutarō (安藤 徳太郎; 1797 – 12 October 1858), was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, considered the last great master of that tradition.
See the richer artist page
