HIROSHIGE I UTAGAWA (Japan 1797-1858 Japan) Snow at Zôjô-ji Temple in Shiba (Shiba Zôjô-ji setchû) 「江戸名所三つの眺め 芝増上寺雪中」 woodcut/paper (nishiki-e) 22 x 35.5 cm Edo period, about 1839-42 (Tenpô 10-13) from the series Three Views of Famous Places in Edo (Edo meisho mittsu no nagame) Vertical centrefold ESTIMATE € 600 - € 1200 STARTING PRICE € 600 Utagawa Hiroshige, born Andō Tokutarō, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist who is considered the last great master of this tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his horizontal-format landscape series "The 53 Stations of Tōkaidō" and his vertical-format landscape series "100 Famous Views of Edo". The subjects of his work were atypical of the ukiyo-e genre, which typically focused on beautiful women, popular actors and other scenes of the urban entertainment districts of Japan's Edo period (1603-1868). Hokusai's popular Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji series was a strong influence on Hiroshige's choice of subject, although Hiroshige's approach was more poetic and atmospheric than Hokusai's bolder, more formal prints. The subtle use of colour was crucial in Hiroshige's prints. Often multiple prints were printed in the same area and with extensive use of bokashi (colour gradation), both of which were quite labour-intensive techniques. For scholars and collectors, Hiroshige's death marked the beginning of a rapid decline of the ukiyo-e genre, especially in the face of the westernisation that followed the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Hiroshige's work exerted a marked influence on Western European painting towards the end of the 19th century as part of the trend towards Japonism. Western European artists such as Manet and Monet collected and studied Hiroshige's compositions in detail: Vincent van Gogh, for example, painted copies of some Hiroshige prints. Further artists and styles: Moronobu, Masanobu, Sharaku, Utamaro, Kuniyoshi, Great Wave, Ukiyo-e, print, woodcut PLEASE NOTE: The purchase price consists of the highest bid plus the buyer's premium, sales tax and, if applicable, the fee of artists resale rights. In the case of normal taxation (marked °), a premium of 24% is added to the highest bid. The mandatory sales tax of 13%, for photographys 20%, is added to the sum of the highest bid and the buyer's premium. The buyer's premium amounts to 28% in case of differential taxation. The sales tax is included in the differential taxation.