Memorial Portrait of Hiroshige

Artist/Culture Utagawa Kunisada I 歌川国貞 (Toyokuni III 三代豊国) (Japanese, 1786–1864)

Publisher Uoya Eikichi

Date1858, 9th month

Mediumwoodblock print; ink and color on paper

DimensionsVertical ōban: 36.2 x 24.8 cm (14 1/4 x 9 3/4 in.)

ClassificationsPrints

MarkingsSeal: Ki en Ikku; Engraver: Yokokawa

Credit LineJohn Chandler Bancroft Collection

Terms

Japanese Print

Object number1901.569

Label TextThis image pays homage to the great ukiyo-e artist, Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), a friend and respected peer of Kunisada I. Made just months after Hiroshige’s passing in 1858, it depicts him as he was at the end of his life, a Buddhist monk living in austerity. Kunisada’s portrayal is made all the more poignant knowing that the relationship between the two designers spanned several decades. Both trained in the Utagawa school. Within their lifetimes, they were considered to be top in their respective subject specialties in print: for Hiroshige, landscape; for Kunisada I, actors and beauties. They collaborated a number of times over the years in an effort to generate more attention for their projects. The text gives a brief description of Hiroshige’s accomplishments and life dates, as well as a poem he wrote in his final days: I am leaving my brush in the Eastern skies So to see the famous places of Western Paradise

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