Artist

Utagawa, Hiroshige

Title

Sudden Shower over Shin-Ohashi Bridge

Technique

woodblock

Date

1857

Dimensions

36.8 height x 24.1 width

Type

print

Accession Number

2020.16.40

Collection

Permanent Collection

Gift of Alan and Elizabeth Bell

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858, sometimes called Ando Hiroshige) was considered one of the great masters of the Ukiyo-e ("Floating World") Japanese woodblock print. He is particularly known for his scenes featuring snow and rain, which feature in many of his best and most famous images, and which has led to his becoming know as "the artist of rain, snow and mist". The leading landscape artist of the 'Ukiyoe' school, Hiroshige was the son of an official in the fire department. In the 1820s he was active in many areas: actor prints, warrior prints, prints of women, etc. He started producing landscape prints in the early 1830s, establishing his own unique style with the series 'Famous Places in Edo' (Ichiyusai signature) and 'Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Highway' of 1832-3. He continued to excel at views of famous places throughout his career and managed to express in great detail the poetic sensibility inherent in the climate and topography of Japan and the people who lived there. Hiroshige also designed many masterpieces in the genre of bird and flower prints, creating a world where poetry and painting combined.