The exhibition 53 Stations of the Tokaido Tract

Vilnius Picture Gallery
Didžioji g. 4, Vilnius
3–26 October, 2008

Pranas Domšaitis Gallery (Klaipėda)
4–28 September, 2008

Museum Miniature Arts (Juodkrantė)
30 May – 30 August, 2008

 

Anotation of the exhibition

 

Woodblock Prints

The school of art best known in the West is that of the Ukiyo-e paintings and woodblock prints of the demimonde, the world of the kabuki theatre and the brothel district. Ukiyo translates as "the floating world" – an ironic wordplay on the Buddhist name for the earthly plane, "the sorrowful world". Ukiyo was the name given to the lifestyle in Japan's urban centres of this period – the fashions, the entertainments, and the pleasures of the flesh. Ukiyo-e is the art documenting this era. Ukiyo-e is especially known for its exceptional woodblock prints. Ukiyo-e prints began to be produced in the late 17^th century. The founder of the Ukiyo-e school was the 17^th-century artist Hishikawa Moronobu. Among the many famous artists who followed were Ando Hiroshige, Hokusai Katsukika, Kitagawa Utamro and Toshusai Sharaku. In the 19th century the dominant figure was Hiroshige, a creator of romantic and somewhat sentimental landscape prints.

 

Ando Hiroshige (1797–1858)

Hiroshige is one of the last great ukiyo-e masters, who’s genius for landscape compositions was first recognized in the West by the Impressionists and Postimpressionists. His print series “Fifty-three Stations on the Tokaido” (1833–34) is perhaps his finest achievement.

Born in the Yaesu area of Edo (present-day Tokyo), Hiroshige early lost both of his parents and, thus, at the age of 12, he started to work as a fire warden. There are many indications that the young Hiroshige was fond of sketching and probably had studied under a master of the traditional Kano school of painting.

About 1811 the artist entered the school of the ukiyo-e master Utagawa Toyochiro. After some time Hiroshige became known as a second-rate imitator of that artist's gaudy prints of girls and actors..

Although receiving a nom d'artiste and a school licence, Hiroshige’s first published work appeared in 1818. In the field of book illustration, it bore the signature Ichiyusai Hiroshige. It is likely that, during this student period, Hiroshige did odd jobs (e.g., inexpensive fan paintings) for the Toyochiro studio and also studied, on his own, the Chinese-influenced Kano style and the impressionistic Shijo style—both of which were to strongly influence his later work.

As is customary with artists of the plebeian ukiyo-e school, early biographical material regarding Hiroshige is scarce: he and his confreres were considered to be only artisans by the Japanese society of the time, and, although their works were widely enjoyed and sometimes even treasured, there was little interest in the personal details of their careers.

Hiroshige's artistic life may be characterized in several stages. The first was his student period, from about 1811 to 1830, when he largely worked in the field of figure prints – girls, actors, and samurai, or warriors. The second was his first landscape period, from 1830 to about 1844, when he created his own romantic ideal of landscape design and bird-and-flower prints, including the famed “Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido” and other series of prints depicting landscape vistas in Japan. His last stage was his later period of landscape and figure-with-landscape designs, from 1844 to 1858.

Hiroshige’s creative heritage is composed of over 5,000 prints and about 10,000 copies were made from some of his wood blocks. Hiroshige’s art works are notable for calm manner and highly decorative elements; his pictures revealed a beauty that seemed somehow tangible and intimate.

The present exhibition is an exceptional opportunity to view the collection of the famed “Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido” prints by Ando Hiroshige kindly presented and delivered from Japan.