Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858)

JAPANESE WOODCUTS

The Japanese artist Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858) was a hugely influential figure, not only in his homeland but also on Western painting. He was born to a samurai family in Edo (modern Tokyo). He took up painting as a teenager and studied for several years under the artist Toyohiro. He is thought to have produced a colossal 8000 prints in his lifetime, of which this is a small selection. Around the age of sixty he retired and became a Buddhist monk.