Hiroshige 広重: Ryogoku Bridge and the Great Riverbank 両国橋大川端 (SOLD)

Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige 広重 (1797-1858)

Title: Ryogoku Bridge and the Great Riverbank 両国橋大川端

Series: One Hundred Famous Views of Edo: Meisho Edo Hyakkei 名所江戸百景

Date: 1857

Colorful red “glove clouds” cling to the far shore as throngs of pedestrians make their way across the famous Ryogoku Bridge. In the foreground are stalls for shops, complete with noren curtains and red lanterns. Boats of of various types ply the river, including some under sail on the opposite side of the bridge. Hiroshige himself wrote that Ryôgoku Bridge was “the liveliest place in the Eastern Capital...day and night, the amusements never cease” (Ehon Edo Miyage, vol. I). Here he has focused on the everyday traffic on and above the river, rather than the hustle and bustle  of the entertainment centers along the banks. As Henry Smith II notes “...the artist has simply supplied the form, in a balanced Z-shaped composition that emphasizes the role of the bridge as a place of passage rather than a node of pleasure”. 

Condition: Excellent impression and color; very good condition. With minor binding holes right side.  Unbacked and untrimmed. The speck in the sky upper left is part of the original handmade paper, so it is not to be considered a flaw.

Dimensions: ôban (36.4 x 24.8 cm)  Publisher: Uoya Eikichi
Literature: Henry Smith II: Hiroshige One Hundred Famous View of Edo, plate 59. See MFA Boston, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, British Museum, Chazen Museum, Honolulu Academy of Art.  Seal: Aratame & date year  Signature: Hiroshige ga

SKU: HIR556