Museo CYDT

Hiroshige, Sudden Shower over Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake, 1857. Image: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle

Next, one should determine impression and state. Impression refers to how early the image was pulled from the woodblock. The earliest printings exhibit visible wood grain and clean, sharp lines, while later impressions present less crisp lines as the block is worn down. Particularly popular designs would be printed so many times that the woodblock would have to be recarved, usually with slight differences from the original. The prints pulled from these blocks would be a different state than those of the original block. State also refers to any color changes that might occur in the printing of a design.

Japan Art Blog                                    RG

Artist - 20th century (unsigned)

Image Size - 19" x 11"

Condition - With excellent color and detail. Some light toning at edges. A few small tears. Some wrinkling and creasing at edges. Please see photos for details. Good overall.

Hiroshige (1797 - 1858) Japanese Woodblock Reprint 
 

Artist - Hiroshige (1797 - 1858)

Image Size - 8 3/4" x 5 3/4"

Condition - With excellent color and detail. Please see photos for details. Good overall.

   

Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese: 歌川 広重), also Andō Hiroshige (Japanese: 安藤 広重; 1797 – 12 October 1858) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, considered the last great master of that tradition.

Hiroshige is best known for his landscapes, such as the series The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō and The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō; and for his depictions of birds and flowers. The subjects of his work were atypical of the ukiyo-e genre, whose typical focus was on beautiful women, popular actors, and other scenes of the urban pleasure districts of Japan's Edo period (1603–1868). The popular Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji series by Hokusai was a strong influence on Hiroshige's choice of subject, though Hiroshige's approach was more poetic and ambient than Hokusai's bolder, more formal prints

For scholars and collectors, Hiroshige's death marked the beginning of a rapid decline in the ukiyo-e genre, especially in the face of the westernization that followed the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Hiroshige's work came to have a marked influence on Western painting towards the close of the 19th century as a part of the trend in Japonism. Western artists closely studied Hiroshige's compositions, and some, such as van Gogh, painted copies of Hiroshige's prints.

Hiroshige was born in 1797 in the Yayosu Quay section of the Yaesu area in Edo (modern Tokyo).^[1] He was of a samurai background,^[1] and was the great-grandson of Tanaka Tokuemon, who held a position of power under the Tsugaru clan in the northern province of Mutsu. Hiroshige's grandfather, Mitsuemon, was an archery instructor who worked under the name Sairyūken. Hiroshige's father, Gen'emon, was adopted into the family of Andō Jūemon, whom he succeeded as fire warden for the Yayosu Quay area.^[1]

Hiroshige went through several name changes as a youth: Jūemon, Tokubē, and Tetsuzō.^[1] He had three sisters, one of whom died when he was three. His mother died in early 1809, and his father followed later in the year, but not before handing his fire warden duties to his twelve-year-old son.^[2] He was charged with prevention of fires at Edo Castle, a duty that left him much leisure time.

Landscapes, flora, and fauna

Hiroshige's first wife helped finance his trips to sketch travel locations, in one instance selling some of her clothing and ornamental combs. She died in October 1838, and Hiroshige remarried to Oyasu,^[b] sixteen years his junior, daughter of a farmer named Kaemon from Tōtōmi Province.

Around 1838 Hiroshige produced two series entitled Eight Views of the Edo Environs, each print accompanied by a humorous kyōka poem. The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō saw print between about 1835 and 1842, a joint production with Keisai Eisen, of which Hiroshige's share was forty-six of the seventy prints.^[12] Hiroshige produced 118 sheets for the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

Original Tokuriki Tomikichiro (1902 - 1999) Japanese Woodblock Print

Artist - Tokuriki Tomikichiro (1902 - 1999)

Image Size - Approximately 17" x 8"

Tokuriki Tomikichirō 徳力富吉郎 (1902-2000)

The art of Tomikichirō Tokuriki is an important bridge between the two great movements of Japanese art in the early twentieth century; shin hanga and sosaku hanga. Like the classic shin hanga masters of the day, Tokuriki designed many woodcuts of landscapes and city views in the traditional manner. Yet he actively promoted sosaku-hanga (creative prints) in Kyoto, which emphasized the artist’s participation in the entire process of printmaking and the exploration of more modern styles and trends.

After WWII Tokuriki set up his own publishing company called Matsukyu and began to teach block-carving to artisans and artists, many of them foreigners.  He also wrote extensively on the technique of woodblock carving and printing.  He traveled extensively throughout the United States and Europe and in the 1960’s he opened several exhibitions of his works in major U.S. cities such as, New York, Chicago, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

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Biography

Sources: Website of the International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) http://www.printdealers.com/content/node/2219; British Museum website http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx; Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: 1900-1975, Helen Merritt, University of Hawaii Press, 1992, p. 153.

Tokuriki Tomikichirō was born in 1902 into a family of Kyoto artists that can be traced back as far as 1596. His first teacher was his grandfather and he credits him with sparking his interest in prints.  "During his lifetime he made seventy-two flower prints," says Tokuriki. "When I was a child I loved to look at them, and they were my introduction to hanga."¹

He entered the Kyoto School of Arts and Crafts and completed a two-year preparatory class and four years of regular training.  He then attended the Kyoto City Specialist School of Painting in 1924 for a three year course of study.  In 1928 he studied Nihonga (Japanese style) painting under Tsuchida Bakusen (1887-1936) and Yamamoto Shunkyo (1871-1933) and he exhibited with Kokuga Sosaku Kyokai (National Painting Creative Association.)  In 1929 he abandoned painting for woodblock printing under the influence of Hiratsuka Un'ichi (1895-1997) and began to contribute to the early print magazine Han. 

"It was only a little after I'd seriously turned to prints that Hiratsuka came to Kyoto to teach a short course, spreading the doctrine of creative prints. Since I had some training I assisted him and in that way received an introduction to the Tokyo artists. I joined the Hanga Association and actively participated in a magazine called Han put out by a group close to Hiratsuka, men like Masao Maeda (1904-1974), Kihachiro Shimozawa (1901-1984), Hide Kawanishi (1894-1965), and Shiko Munakata (1903-1975). It was a good magazine, but like all the rest, short-lived."²  Tokuriki also contributed to the print magazines Shin hanga and Kitsusuki and organized the Red Green Society (Tanryokukai) which put out Collection of Small Prints (Han shohinshu).

In addition to training with Hiratsuka, Tokuriki also studied printmaking with the engraver (carver) Keikichi Hono and the printer Tokuzo O'iwa [who reportedly was a printer for Utagawa Hiroshige III (1842–1894).]

Tokuriki was a leading artist and promoter of sosaku hanga in Kyoto.  He exhibited with Kokugakai (National Picture Association), Nihon Hanga Kyokai (Japan Print Association), Shun'yokai (Spring Principle Association), and the various iterations of state-controlled exhibitions, i.e. Teiten, Shin Bunten, Nitten, and in numerous solo exhibitions in Japan and abroad.   He was a member of Nihon Hanga Kyokai (Japan Print Association) from 1932 and was a co-founder of the Kyoto magazine Taishu hanga in 1932, which helped create the sense of a Kyoto school of the sosaku hanga movement. 

He produced many sets of prints before and during World War II based on traditional subjects, such as Shin Kyoto fukei (New Views of Kyoto, 1933-4), which also included designs by Asada Benji (1899-1984) and Asano Takeji (1900-1999), Tokyo hakkei (Eight Views of Tokyo, 1942), Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji and Thirty Views of Kyoto, the last two of which sold a thousand copies.³ Most of his traditional prints (shin hanga style) were printed and published by three Kyoto publishing houses: Uchida Wood Block Printing Company (Uchida Publishing), Unsodo Publishing and Kyoto Hanga-in, but after the war Tokuriki set up his own publishing company called Matsukyū⁴ [末詳 (まつ九)] Publishing Company to print and publish his prints.  In addition to print publishing, Matsukyū also taught block-carving to artisans and artists.   In 1948 Tokuriki set up a sub-company of Matsukyū called Kōryokusha⁵ with fellow artists Kotozuka Eiichi (1906-1979), Kamei Tōbei  (1901-1977) and Tasaburo Takahashi (1904-1977) to publish and exhibit their creative prints (sosaku hanga).

Tokuriki was a prolific print artist throughout his life and was active in writing about print making and teaching until he was into his 90s.  In addition to Japanese artists he also taught printmaking to a number of foreign artists including David Stones and Daniel Kelly. In 1968 he wrote the small book Wood-block Printing in the preface of which he states "I have tried to write this book for those who wish to learn the exquisite technique of Japanese wood-block printing... If you have any further questions please visit me at my atelier or write to me."  His door seemed to be always open. 

Daniel Kelly, a student of Tokuriki's, tell us that Tokuriki taught him some important lessons about issues other than technique. "Tokuriki said that, during the Edo period, a woodblock print was the same price as a bowl of noodles. He advised me not to be expensive, not to be elitist. He said it's for the public because it's printed art. Make it accessible to the world."⁶

Tokuriki traveled extensively throughout the United States and Europe and in the 1960’s he opened several exhibitions of his works in major U.S. cities such as, New York, Chicago, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.