Hiroshige

Hiroshige's family, then, were of humble station in life. The firemen, or, perhaps more correctly, fire-police (hikeshi-doshin), were officials of sorts; and, as such, had some measure of authority and influence as compared with unofficial persons of their grade in the Japanese social scheme - influence which was, later on, so far serviceable to the artist as to procure him the opportunity of making his first journey over the Tokaido. The duties had become almost nominal in the general slackness which characterized the last phase of the Tokugawa regime ; and it is related that these fire-police occupied most of their time in amusements, in gambling, or in the practice of such easy arts as lay within the scope of comparatively uneducated folk.

The art of the Ukiyo-e reflected the artistic expression of an isolated civilisation which, when it became accessible to the West, significantly influenced a number of European artists. The three masters of Ukiyo-e, Hokusai, Utamaro and Hiroshige, are united here for the first time to create a true reference on Japanese art. The three masters rank highly among the most famous Japanese artistic productions of all time. This new title of the Prestige of Art collection will be a reference for art students and Japanese art lovers.

Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, actually composed of 118 splendid woodblock landscape and genre scenes of mid-nineteenth-century Tokyo, is one of the greatest achievements of Japanese art.

Альбом гравюр Сто знаменитых видов Эдо прославленного Андо Хиросигэ.