Hiroshige: prints and drawings

by Matthi Forrer

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) holds an assured place in the history of world art as one of the greatest and best-loved masters of the wood-block print. For this book, published on the occasion of an exhibition held at the Royal Academy of Arts in London to mark the bicentenary of the artist's birth, every effort has been made to reproduce the finest early impressions. Each plate is provided with a commentary by Matthi Forrer who, in an introductory essay, examines Hiroshige's life and work, assessing his place in Japanese art and making some important revisions to the generally accepted chronology of his oeuvre. Suzuki Juzo, in his essay, makes a plea for seeing Hiroshige as a whole, drawing attention to aspects of the artist's work and personality that are often overlooked, while Henry D. Smith II places Hiroshige and his art in their social and political context.

Genres: Art, Japan, Nonfiction, History, Reference, Japanese Literature

Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exquisitely beautiful book featuring many paintings by Hiroshige. The accompanying text seems very detailed, going into his life and artistic output. It is a quarto sized volume, so most paintings get the large format treatment they deserve.

[Peter Beck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could have judged Matthi Forrer’s “Hiroshige” by its cover (full disclosure: I am a sucker for cobalt blue). Hiroshige has been my favorite Japanese artist since discovering his prints during my earliest trips to Japan in the 1980s. His is the Japan of my mind’s eye, before modernization and the advent of the Ministry of Pavement.

I recommend viewing this book in tandem with Adele Schlombs' “Hiroshige” (Taschen) as they could not compliment one another better. Forrer’s “Hiroshige” is based on an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London and includes an essay by one of the leading Hiroshige scholars. Forrer takes a chronological approach, whereas Taschen's is thematic. The images in Forrer’s “Hiroshige” are larger, more numerous and focus more on landscapes.

However, unlike the Taschen volume, Forrer does not include a section on the interaction between Hiroshige and European painters. Monet may have had the largest collection of Hiroshige’s work, but van Gogh is the only one I am aware of who did exact copies of at least two of Hiroshige’s work. Conversely, Hiroshige was influenced by the European Masters. Indeed, the twain were meeting at the very moment when Rudyard Kipling published his “Ballad of East and West.”

[Lydia · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exhibition catalog of woodblock prints from 2001, Royal Academy of Arts, London. Five stars for the intro, history, short bio, and maps on Hiroshige by Forrer. The photos are large, and color good, and descriptions good considering the artist lived from 1797-1858. Although Hiroshige made 5000+ drawings in his lifetime, 150 are covered here in no particular order? Hiroshige wood block prints are amazing for capturing modes of dress, travel, cultural life and business of the common man of the early 1800s. There are series of prints, ie, 53 Stations of the Tokaido Road that are not shown here in their entirety. U.S. Commodore Perry arrived in Japan 1854, and these prints traveled widely and were used for reference by many impressionist painters.

[E. G.]

Introduction

--Hiroshige's Early Years

--Hiroshige's Artistic Development in Landscape Prints

--The Famous Places in Edo

--Views in the Provinces

--Kachōga, Book Illustrations, and Paintings

--The Meaning of Hiroshige in the Arts

Appendix:
Notes
Chronology
List of Works
Select Bibliography
Glossary

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely show catalog with a short biography and history, Hiroshige was an interesting artist, who lived until the arrival of the American black ships, some of his work shows a western influence, see "People on a Moonlit Street" and "People Walking Under Cherry Trees at Night" which are drawn in western perspective. There's still plenty of more traditional landscapes many of which almost feel like a fantasy. There are a few sketches and non-landscape works, but there are some holes that a academic work would have filled in.

Its physical format is a slightly oversize perfect bound standard book, so its not really a coffee table book.

https://data.ukiyo-e.org/kruml/images...
https://www.britishmuseumshoponline.o...

[Garry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very difficult to read type font; artistic but hard to read. Ok, this is an fancy art book, mostly reproductions of some of the best works by Hiroshige and a few essays about the life and work of Hiroshige. A good introduction to Japanese woodblock art from the 17th to 18th century; the shogun era.

[Joe Byrd · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a great selection of Hiroshige's prints and some drawings.

[Ivo Lederer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful works! Really makes me wanna try woodcut again!