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歌川豊国(3世、歌川国貞)筆「歌川広重肖像」 /

Hiroshige Utagawa

A ukiyo-e artist of the late Edo period who influenced Vincent van Gogh

1797–1858

Hiroshige Utagawa was a ukiyo-e artist of late Edo period. Born as child of Gen’emon Ando, a fire warden for the Yaesu Quay area, Hiroshige’s original name was Tokutaro, which was later changed to Juemon, then to Tetsuzo. His art pseudonyms included Ichiyusai (written 一遊斎 or 一幽斎) and Ichiryusai (一立斎). He began apprenticing under the ukiyo-e artist Toyohiro Utagawa in 1811, and the following year he was given the professional name of Hiroshige Utagawa. It is said that while Hiroshige studied the style of the Kano school, he also learned the styles of the Southern School (nanga) and Shijo school, founded by Goshun (Gekkei Matsumura). In the beginning, he drew pictures of actors and beautiful women, just like his teacher. Then, influenced by Hokusai Katsushika, who was his senior, he produced the series Toto meisho (Famous Places of the Eastern Capital). He subsequently created the series Tokaido gojusan tsugi (The 53 Stations of the Tokaido), the edition published by Hoeido being the most famous. This series secured his position as a landscape artist and led to his being considered one of the three greatest artists of the Utagawa School, along with third-generation actor artist Toyokuni Utagawa and warrior artist Kuniyoshi Utagawa. Hiroshige’s landscape prints show seasonal scenes along with feelings evoked by travel. They offered a sense of calm to the common people during the closing years of the Tokugawa Shogunate, when the social climate was constantly changing. They also served to revive the traditions of pictures of famous places and pictures of the four seasons—traditions that had been passed down since the Heian period. Some of Hiroshige’s prominent works include such series as Omi hakkei (Eight Views of Omi), Kisokaido rokujukyu tsugi (Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaido), and Meisho Edo hyakkei (One Hundred Famous Views of Edo), as well as masterful pictures of birds and flowers. Hiroshige is also known for having made a major impact through his ukiyo-e work on the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh and many other European artists.

Related People, Things and Events

Books

Books by Hiroshige Utagawa

スケッチ集『真写諸品図会』

Related Works

東海道五拾三次之内(一部)

名所絵

花鳥画など

魚づくし

Videos

Past Exhibitions

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Institutions Holding Related Materials

  • 静岡県静岡市清水区の由比本陣公園内に平成6年(1994)開館。広重の代表的な東海道シリーズ『東海道五拾三次之内』(保永堂版東海道)、『東海道五十三次』(隷書東海道)、『東海道五十三次之内』(行書東海道)など約1,400点を収蔵しています。なお、由比本陣公園はかつての東海道由比宿の本陣跡地にあたります。

  • 栃木県那須郡那珂川町に所在。平成12年(2000)歌川広重の肉筆画を中心とする青木藤作氏のコレクションを核として開館。藤作氏は隣接する現在の栃木県さくら市の出身で、その遺族が阪神淡路大震災を契機としてコレクションを寄贈、これを受けて開設されました。

  • 江戸時代の中山道にあたる岐阜県恵那市に所在。市内の浮世絵収集家、故田中春雄氏から寄贈を受けた歌川広重の浮世絵版画「田中コレクション」を中心として、平成13年(2001)に整備開館されました。

  • As Japan’s representative museum, Tokyo National Museum collects, preserves, displays, and researches the cultural properties of Asia with a focus on Japan, and also provides educational programs.

  • The National Diet Library (NDL), founded in 1948, is the library which belongs to the Diet. The NDL assists the activities of the National Diet. The Library collects and conserves materials and information both from Japan and abroad, serving as a foundation of knowledge and culture and providing library services to administrative and judicial entities and Japanese citizens.

  • The Tokyo Fuji Art Museum is founded on November 3, 1983, in Hachioji, a thriving university town in the western suburbs of the Japanese capital. Priding itself as “a museum creating bridges around the world” to facilitate the exchange of different cultures, our museum has forged cordial relations with art museums and cultural institutes in 32 countries and territories to date. We do so by bringing the world’s finest works of art to Japan while reciprocating in kind by introducing the finest Japanese treasures to the world through special exhibitions that showcase their beauty and wonder through a unique new set of prisms and perspectives. Our museum possesses some 30,000 pieces of artworks from various periods and cultures including Japanese, Eastern and Western works, ranging from paintings, prints, photography, sculptures, ceramics and lacquer ware to armor, swords and medallions. Especially noteworthy is its outstanding collection of Western oil paintings that spans a five-hundred-year period from the Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, and Romanticism to Impressionism and contemporary art, as well as its exceptional collection of photographic masterpieces that can give an overview of the history of photography from the birth of the photograph to the present age.

  • The Art Research Center was established in 1998. Since then, the Center’s mission has been not only to conduct historical and social research and analyses of both tangible and intangible human cultural properties such as visual and performing arts and craftsmanship, but also to record, organize, preserve, and disseminate the research outcomes. To make the vast amount of database of resources on Japanese culture kept at the Art Research Center available to joint researchers in and outside of Japan, while providing the hitherto accumulated digital archiving and database management technologies as the basis for research project activities to promote information archiving and the circulating of joint research on knowledge. Through these undertakings, the Center aims to “become a world class research center” in the field of Digital Humanities.

External Links

In Japan

  • 広重の作品を所蔵。HPトップの収蔵品検索から「江戸東京博物館 デジタルアーカイブ」に入り、詳細検索で歌川広重と入力して検索すると、画像を閲覧することができる。

  • 東京都渋谷区に所在する太田記念美術館HPより。2018年9月から10月にかけて開催された展覧会の紹介ページで、画像とともに広重の紹介を行っている。

Outside of Japan

  • 欧州の美術館、博物館、図書館等が所有する絵画、書籍等のデジタルコンテンツを統合的に検索できる。広重の作品や関連資料を多数閲覧できる。 画像は、アムステルダム国立美術館所蔵の "Ichikawa Danjuro VII in de rol van Shibaraku"

  • 米国の美術館、博物館、図書館等が所有する絵画、書籍等のデジタルコンテンツを統合的に検索できる。広重の作品や関連資料を多数閲覧できる。 画像はミネアポリス美術館所蔵の "Crane and Autumn Flowers"

  • 米国のニューヨークにある美術館。広重の作品をはじめ、多数のデジタルコンテンツをパブリックドメインとして提供している。 画像はメトロポリタン美術館所蔵の "Hibiscus Mutabilis and Jay"

References

  1. 鈴木重三 著,日本経済新聞社
  2. 編集制作: 座右宝刊行会,集英社
  3. 内藤正人 著,東京美術
  4. 太田記念美術館 編,太田記念美術館
  5. 「歌川広重」の項
  6. 「歌川広重」の項
  7. 「歌川広重」の項
  8. 「歌川広重(初代)」の項
  9. 歴史学研究会 編,岩波書店