Hiroshige
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) was a famous Japanese ukiyo-e artist. His series 'The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido', 'The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaido' and 'One Hundred Famous Views of Edo' are best known. Not only Hokusai, but also Western artists such as van Gogh and Monet are influenced his compositions.
The other day, I was watching on TV about his art. The interesting thing was one of 'One Hundred Famous Views of Edo', Fukagawa Susaki and Jumantsubo. Because it was described as a bird's-eye view in 1857. It's one of my favourites, but I'd never thought about this composition deeply. It was an impossible technique at that time, because there was no airplane. How could he know the view from the sky?
The bird is looking down at the tub on the water. TV presenter said that this was depicted after the 1855 Edo earthquake (aka the Great Ansei Earthquake). It caused considerable damage in Edo (now Tokyo) with shaking and fires, with a death toll of about 7,000 people. And the tub could be a coffin of a victim.
He should had seen damage and people's suffering. The earthquake effected Hiroshige's feelings toward arts, and he left behind a lot of landscapes' artworks after that. When I knew the background of this art, I evoked a double image of the 2011 great earthquake. This art may be having a message of yearning for peace. I thought the bird is watching over our lives.
The other day, I was watching on TV about his art. The interesting thing was one of 'One Hundred Famous Views of Edo', Fukagawa Susaki and Jumantsubo. Because it was described as a bird's-eye view in 1857. It's one of my favourites, but I'd never thought about this composition deeply. It was an impossible technique at that time, because there was no airplane. How could he know the view from the sky?
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| source; wikipedia |
The bird is looking down at the tub on the water. TV presenter said that this was depicted after the 1855 Edo earthquake (aka the Great Ansei Earthquake). It caused considerable damage in Edo (now Tokyo) with shaking and fires, with a death toll of about 7,000 people. And the tub could be a coffin of a victim.
He should had seen damage and people's suffering. The earthquake effected Hiroshige's feelings toward arts, and he left behind a lot of landscapes' artworks after that. When I knew the background of this art, I evoked a double image of the 2011 great earthquake. This art may be having a message of yearning for peace. I thought the bird is watching over our lives.
