catalog entry for a museum piece

This is a woodblock prints painting and is from the series of "Fifty-three times of

Tokaido”, by Ando Hiroshige, depicts the scenery of 53 hostels (namely post stations)

that pass from Edo to Kyoto. This is the number 39 from the series.

The art style for the painting called Ukiyoe, means “Floating world" in the

buddhist allegorical sense, for life is short, the Japanese people think that "live in the

moment, enjoy the moonlight, white snow, forget reality, no longer disheartened, so-

called 'floating world". Although ukiyo-e art emerges on the basis of traditional

domestic paintings and absorbs a large number of Chinese Ming and Qing woodblock

prints and western realist paintings, it eventually forms artistic styles and

characteristics different from traditional domestic paintings as well as Chinese and

Western paintings.

This prints made from rice paper. The main character in the frame is a wooden

bridge builds up the structure diagonally as one perspective view. The whole print

layouts in sharp edges and clean outline. With more depth analyzed in the painting, the

composition can divide into three part: foreground, mid-ground, and background.

On the foreground, along with the bridge is a greenish grassland showing few

weeds with detailed brushstroke with dotted leaves, the landscape of the meadow

disappears when it reaches to the right bottom corner of the frame, the greenish field

also faded into a yellowish land as a second layer as it sinks.

When the subject’s arrangement gets to the center of the mid-ground, it shows

clearly 27 figures on the bridge. They are all dress in green and yellow Japanese

kimono with no decorations on the clothes. They are wearing white caps. The way to

distinguish those figures who are just showing the back of the body is by making

assumptions from different activities. They move as a group and transport some

ceremonial stuff to the village, such as Red Baskets, brown boxes, and the central

figures in the group are carrying some alter-like platform. And some numbers are

moving free standing ritual decorations individually. Besides these figures from the

bridge, it shows a river. From a symmetrical and diagonal point of view, the color

rhythm of the river indicates from dark blue, from the part which connects to the

yellowish grass field; dissolves to pale in the middle of the river, and appear a bit blue

again when it reaches the mid-upper side of the lush grass and the right side of the

bridge. This color pattern of the river provides the volume and sparkling of the flowing

water.

The background also starts from the left, shows the gray and white field of

reeds, comprehensive with the foreground plants cohesively. The contrast is the

background plantation has less detail compared to the close foreground view. When a

dark grey mountain comes to the vision in the centered composition, which is covered

by dark grey rank grass and the leaves slightly shift to the right, express the direction of

the wind. Besides the dark firm hill, also from natural elements to a more civilized

world. The rest of the right scope appears plenty of individual pastoral houses.

This painting takes place in a daily summer dusk view but creates the feeling of

harmony, because the natural, artificial and figure elements are explicitly well balanced

in the frame. It performs in a twilight scene: the sun just went down and the town is

shedding its daytime hustle and ready for a rest. Only the caravan is moving slowly

towards to the destination, they are getting tired too after one day’s expedition. They

may going to find a hustle to stop for today’s journey after across the bridge. Although,

for the color choices, even all the colors are on the same level of boldness. There is

always a dark part compete with a light tone in the content. Likewise, it provides a

calm and peaceful atmosphere by the less saturated coloration. Also, all the still

objects from the frame contrast with the moving figures on the bridge, with the volume

flatness, which enhanced the figures’ movements in the image.

As a different approach, all the objects from the painting present in a way which

unites the sense of flatness but also with object’s existing volume. It makes one

wonder whether it is related to the traditional Japanese painting style that

accommodates the awareness of rigid and severe tone. With further researches

associated with the artist and the historical period in specific region: Japan, what

inspired the development of Ukiyoe art style? How does Japanese art style become

representational and becomes essential keywords especially to the European arts?

What the techniques that Japanese artists used to describe the landscape other than

other region? This presentation will provide the further research beyond the image

itself.

Ando Hiroshige, also known by the name from the official art school: Utagawa

Hiroshige is one of many painters of ukiyo-e. Born into a family of fallen samurai

warriors, his father, a civil servant in charge of fire services, died early in his early 13th

year. When he is young, he starts his career as an ukisian painter from Utagawa

Toyohiro (1773-1828), trying different forms of prints favored in the early 19th century:

flowers, birds, beauties, etc. After his master's death, he turns to landscape painting.

Hiroshige's production stock is enormous. Of course, this is a characteristic of almost

all Japanese artists, who have to cope with the vagaries of publishers and the civic

class. Hiroshige's creative idea is he paints what is popular. He who paints well learns

from others. Hokusai's view of Mount Fuji inspired him. His first set of 10 prints, “Toto

Meisho," published in 1831, showed the strong influence of Hokusai on him, the point

of view of secular life and journey.

It is important to bring up another Japanese master of the Edo period floating

world painting: Katsushika Hokusai. Hokusai begins to publish at the age of 19, and he

dies at the age of 90. He loves life and nature. It is said that he moved 93 times during

his life and has a wide range of life experiences. Therefore, his paintings are very broad

and rich in themes. Hokusai is also a fan of the Chinese novel.

In order to introduce Chinese novels to the Japanese people, he personally drew

a large number of illustrations for Chinese novels, such as "picture book journey to the

west" and "painting history of water margin". In this process, he constantly absorbs the

advantages of ancient and modern Chinese painting, mastered the techniques of

Chinese painting and turned them into his own unique skills. Then, his paintings have

human life, a world of ghosts. Then, he begins to draw ukiyo-e. The more he

experiences, the more he draw.

Woodblock printing is a traditional technique that came from China to Japan.

The processes to make the Japanese woodblock prints, first put a sketch on the

wooden board, carve the outline with a knife, and cut the concave surface with a

chisel. Then, put the color on the block, repeat the layering and completes with rubbing

the layers of colors. Finally, the delicate engraving process complete the woodblock

printing.

The sculptor carves the woodblock according to the number of colors used,

they usually use only blue and green because the material and profit limitaion. For

instance, the Kanagawa surf only uses five color plates. It takes about three weeks to

sculpt all the wooden versions.

One of his signature wood print is this ‘The Great Wave’, from the series of

Mount Fuji. The "giant wave" has become a cultural symbol in miniature of art, even

when you type it into your iPhone, it shows an emoji of the wave.

Van Gogh describes this as "vulture claw," it is about to devour the boat.

Hokusai lowers his sights as if he is riding the waves in a boat, looking up at the waves

and Mount Fuji and capturing the scene. Will be the overwhelming force of nature,

expresses incisively and vividly, its beautiful place can only mean, hard to

communicate verbally. Hokusai has been painting for 60 years before he creates the

‘Kanagawa surf’.

However, Chinese painting elements still dominate in his paintings. For

example, in the Song dynasty, Ma Yuan's "twelve water charts," the waves in these

pictures are not the same as those in the “Kanagawa surf.” The heavy and meticulous

lines, the small waves rolled up, and the insubstantial feeling that gradually fades to the

top of the picture, all of which are the observation results and artistic crystallization of

Ma Yuan's painstaking efforts to defend the riverbank for many years. In "water map,"

Ma Yuan mainly used hook, dye and flat paint, with thick and thin lines and cadence,

which can reinforce the feelings of splashing and pressing, and water forms tension.

The expression on the volume feeling that expresses wave roll is very original, the

layout of the line is reasonable and orderly, all sorts of detail of water flower are shown.

The painting method, which uses a lot of white space to create the artistic conception

of landscape painting, has exerted a profound influence on the landscape painting of

later generations since Ma Yuan created it.

If Hokusai is the artist of the wild song, Hiroshige is the authentic Japanese

flavor, introverted, graceful, but also with the loneliness of walking alone. Japanese

painting art, whose heritage derives from or is at least influenced by the Chinese, tends

to stick to a rigid pattern, even applicable to landscapes. Hiroshige is not subject to

such restrictions.

At that time, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji becomes popular in Edo. Hiroshige

has a literary taste in his bones, and is not pedantic, and has a mind to consider the

needs of viwers. Under the tide of the popularity of landscape painting, Hiroshige

completes a very rapid transformation. When he has his first attempt on the landscape

painting, transform from portraits painting. With later development, It is easy to observe

that Hiroshige's perspective is particularly excellent, making good use of natural

elements such as snow, moon, and wind to arrange a picture with both ornamental and

flowing emotions. He derives his material in the first instance from actual observation,

and, in this case, where there would seem to have been every inducement to present

the particular scenes which , by tradition, were those to which the attention of travelers

was inevitably directed, he breaks aways to give to them an astonishing variety of

theme, even to the entire exclusion, at times, of the topographical point of view. In this

respect, his independence from convention had far more significance in Japanese eyes

than it would convey to Western critics. Hiroshige uses beautiful brushwork and

harmonious colors to express the nature in the elegant and poetic atmosphere of

seclusion -- a wholly soft and lyrical realm, which is more suitable for the artistic taste

of the public. Buddhism deeply influenced him, and his paintings always reveal

"sadness" -- Japanese sorrow that beautiful things in the world cannot last.

Later in August 1832, he has an opportunity to accompany the general's

emissaries to the imperial palace in Kyoto. He draws many sketches of scenery and

stations along the route of the Tokaido post road. The experience helps him create his

unique style. The following year, bayoneting publishes "fifty-three times of Tokaido”.

The extensive and heavy figure painting style reminds us of the contemporary Chinese

master Li, who painted the Huasheng painting, from the series of ‘Sudhana with the 53

wise men.’

Sundhana, the good money boy, out of the Buddhism "generous Buddhist

huayan sutra" into mythology. To set up, human Buddhism thought, this painting is

adapted accordingly. Due to the misfortune of his family, the money boy set out with a

child's curiosity, guided by the master li tong, understand the road of life, to develop

inner heart, benefit the world. So he takes this as his purpose, climbs the mountains,

drifts the sea, run into the royal palace, enters the caves, and pays homage to 53

intellectuals. He is the assistant of Kwan Yin, which means to”hear the voice to save

suffering," so he is on the side of Bodhisattva. This image is one illustration from the

Buddhist texts. The sacred figures from the painting only various in different clothes,

their faces are the same. The drawing techniques do not focus on the spacial

dimensional effect, more concentrates on the details of the movements and the well-

defined decorations. The colors are in a low saturated natural tone which represents

the peacefulness and harmony to the frame.

Unlike the traditional Chinese drawing technique. The characters in Hiroshige

works are so vivid in lines, but the inner spirit is also very calm, flat, very perceptive,

which is just the opposite of the Oriental.

This picture, however, is a positive depiction of the Japanese bridge. Hiroshige

himself breaks the previous way of composition, it significant change is worth for

people to take into a further investigation, to find out more beyond the physical

appearance.

Japan bridge is the first stop on the journey of "Fifty-three times of Tokaido”.

Take a closer look at this painting, and open the picture to the left and right side of the

wooden gate. Under the clear sky, the transport team of the name of the Edo came

from the front line, the lower left to do the small business of the fishmonger shudder to

the side. This atmosphere creates a sense of urgency. Like the Hiroshige's painting is

trying to persuade: "the long journey of Tokaido begins! I'm going to keep going!"

The compositional structure and the figurative expression are the power from

the master, in such a remarkable picture, by adding two puppies in the bottom right

corner, suddenly, the tension is relieved. The emotional tone of the whole picture tends

to balance after being rich and colorful.

He observes life from the point of view of the common people, from a secular

aspect. And describes the characters a little less dignitaries, more ordinary traffic of the

road. This series appreciate the variety of subject and of composition. There is no

repeat story, but infinite variety of Nature.

Hiroshige’s last great work is the hundred views of the name of Edo, produced in

1856 and continued until his death in 1858, and forty-eight views of edo. From this

series composition is wilder to use the prospective method and the traditional

Japanese way of cutting off the main body to create a variety of visual space effect. At

the same time, with the high maturity of ukiyo-e engraving and rubbing technology, as

well as the use of chemical pigments imported from overseas, the bright colors and

exciting composition fill his works touching power in his later years. Besides, the most

prominent feature of the works in this period is the adoption of vertical composition,

which is a new challenge for Hiroshige in his later years. Compared with the banner

composition commonly uses in landscape painting in the past, it applies the

perspective principle to the vertical structure, and the sky will usually take up half of

the picture, which brings a lot of difficulties to the composition. Hiroshige uses the

overlook technique in traditional Japanese paintings to adjust the space position, and

raises or deliberately lowers the horizon line. Large blank spaces are comparing with

scenes, which make the composition more interesting. He brings the foreground image

extremely close, and the subject is cut off by the edge of the picture, which makes the

picture more spatial and in depth.

At the turn of the 17th century, the Dutch East India company, which engages in

the trade of Chinese porcelain, has to turn to Japan to import products. The original

products are porcelain and lacquerware. Most of the ukiyo-e's works are wood

engravings, which are cheap, so most of them are discarded after reading. They are

similar to modern newspapers, but they are rather wasteful, so some people began to

use them to wrap porcelain, tea, and other export products. When westerners take

things apart, they find the paintings on the wrappers by accident. For western art,

which was significantly impacted by the invention of the camera at that time, this

mysterious painting style from the East made them feel as if they had discovered a new

continent. So they set the pottery aside and carefully smoothed away the wrapping

paper -- the European version of getting the oyster and returning the pearl. But

perhaps the most critical factor in ukiyo-e's journey west is its diplomatic staff in

Japan.

The enlightening influence of ukiyo-e on impressionist painters is universally

acknowledged. One of Van Gogh's favorite painters of the impressionist genius is

Hiroshige. This gives Hiroshige a reputation far older than other ukiyo-painters. When

Van Gogh is struggling with how to break up the old sensory experience until he see

the works of ukiyoshi painters such as Hiroshige from an exhibition. Van Gogh left for

Arles, France. Then he write to Gauguin to show off: " I will never forget the emotions

of my first day in Arles. For me, this is Japan.” "Ukiyoe strokes are so fast, so fast as to

be as light.” This is what the Japanese look like: they are more neural and direct. Van

Gogh is so enamoring with the Japanese art that he imitated many paintings.

As can be seen from the several Edo paintings that Van Gogh chose to imitate,

also shows the unique features of Ando Hiroshige. In the first place, the composition is

very vivid and lively. The wholly original and cartoonish picture expressions like turtle

plum house may be common in today's world, but in the eyes of westerners at that

time, they were quite surprising.

Another pastiche is the bridge shower. The painting can feel what van Gogh

calls "brushstroke quickness": the lines and composition, the color used to convey the

emotional atmosphere directly, have a strong sense of immediate dynamics.

Another one from Paul Gauguin’s "Jacob versus the angels" image separates by

the silhouette of an apple tree trunk against a red background. The figures in the

painting are incredibly close to each other, as well as flat and dull colors, cutting off the

composition. They are inspired by Hiroshige as well.

Hiroshige exemplifies the Japanese style of romance, different from Hokusai's

brilliant and straight forward, his painting is the world of the artistic melody. The more

spiritual core of this is the sorrow of things, flowers quiet, people independent.

Accompanied by the lively and robust expression of ukiyoe, this kind of flavor of

singing and mourning is one of the highest levels of expression of pure Japanese art,

which endows ukiyoe with the poetic zen of folk art.

Hiroshige's skills, the heart of the practice are very high to extreme, such as

shape and meaning, as for the changing of the martial arts master. This gentle, holy

hand, drawing on all the world law, into the pen. Rewarding to Van Gogh echoes

Hiroshige’s style to the west and make the extension to a further development.