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Nihonbashi, no.1 from the series Fifty-three Stations by Two Brushes

Nihonbashi, no.1 from the series Fifty-three Stations by Two Brushes

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Hiroshige, Utagawa and Utagawa Kunisada

This series was a collaboration between Hiroshige and Kunisada. Hiroshige designed the landscape insets of the established stations along the Tokaido highway and Kunisada designed the large figures associated with each location in various legends or kabuki references. Unlike other series of the Tokaido which directly appropriated Hiroshige’s earlier designs, this series relied on creative treatments of the locations. The signatures of each artist are clearly placed on or near their respective work. The first print in this series highlights the respective specialties of the two artists. Hiroshige’s unusual composition shows Nihon Bridge as if drawn from below in a boat on the water. Kunisada includes a playful reference to Hiroshige’s earlier series with the child’s doll, dressed as an attendant in a feudal procession from Hiroshige’s famous design Morning View of Nihon Bridge.
Artist
Hiroshige, Utagawa and Utagawa Kunisada
(Japanese, 1797-1858) (Japanese, 1786-1864)
Title
Nihonbashi, no.1 from the series Fifty-three Stations by Two Brushes
Date
1854
Medium
Color woodcut
Dimensions
15 x 10 in. Overall
Credit
John H. Van Vleck Endowment Fund purchase
Accession No.
1997.73
Classification
Prints
Geography
Japan

Related

  • Mueller, Laura. "Competition and Collaboration: Japanese Prints of the Utagawa School." Leiden, The Netherlands: Hotei Publishing, 2007. p. 173, no. 160

  • Karen LaMonte: Floating World: Chazen Museum of Art, 8/11/2017–9/24/2017
  • Utagawa: Masters of the Japanese Print, 1770-1900 : Chazen Museum of Art, 3/21/2008–6/15/2008
  • Competition and Collaboration: Japanese Prints of the Utagawa School: Chazen Museum of Art, 11/3/2007–1/6/2008
  • Splendors of Edo: Japanese Prints, 1750-1930: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 8/7/1999–10/10/1999

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