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A Picture of Mitsumata in the Eastern Capital, from a series of Views of the Eastern Capital

A Picture of Mitsumata in the Eastern Capital, from a series of Views of the Eastern Capital

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Utagawa Kuniyoshi

Kuniyoshi produced many remarkable landscape prints, or fukei-ga. He was clearly intrigued by Western engravings that were appearing more frequently in Japan during this period. In this design, two workers caulk the bottom of a boat by charring the wood with an open fire. They work on the banks of the Sumida River, the vast horizon of Edo behind them. Two tall towers at left rise above the flat roofline of warehouses and buildings on the distant bank. The shorter one is a wooden fire watchtower, while the other is most likely a spire or tower appropriated from a European engraving. His unusual treatment of the clouds also borrows from imported images.
Artist
Utagawa Kuniyoshi
(Japanese, 1798 - 1861)
Title
A Picture of Mitsumata in the Eastern Capital, from a series of Views of the Eastern Capital
Date
ca. 1835
Medium
Color woodcut
Dimensions
249 x 366 mm Overall
Credit
Bequest of John H. Van Vleck
Accession No.
1980.2654
Classification
Prints
Geography
Japan

Related

By 1925, purchased in Japan by Frank Lloyd Wright; ca. 1926, acquired by The Bank of Wisconsin; 1928, sold to Edward Burr Van Vleck (Madison, WI); 1943, passed through inheritance to Edward’s son, John H. Van Vleck (Madison, WI); 9 January 1980, bequeathed by John H. Van Vleck to the Elvehjem Museum of Art [now called Chazen Museum of Art]

  • Mueller, Laura. "Competition and Collaboration: Japanese Prints of the Utagawa School." Leiden, The Netherlands: Hotei Publishing, 2007. p. 131, no. 106
  • Osumi, Takeshige, ed. "Edward Burr Van Vleck Collection Ukiyo-e Masterpieces Exhibition." Tokyo: Bun You Associates, 1999.
  • Elvehjem Museum of Art. "The Edward Burr Van Vleck Collection of Japanese Prints." Madison: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 1990. p. 260

  • Edward Burr Van Vleck Collection: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 10/13/1999–6/30/2000

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