Product Description

Hiroshige's Edo: Masterful ukiyo-e woodblock prints of Tokyo in the mid-19th century

Literally meaning "pictures of the floating world", ukiyo-e refers to the famous Japanese woodblock print genre that originated in the 17th century and is practically synonymous with the Western world's visual characterization of Japan. Because they could be mass produced, ukiyo-e works were often used as designs for fans, New Year's greeting cards, single prints, and book illustrations, and traditionally they depicted city life, entertainment, beautiful women, kabuki actors, and landscapes. The influence of ukiyo-e in Europe and the USA, often referred to as Japonisme, can be seen in everything from impressionist painting to today's manga and anime illustration. This reprint is made from one of the finest complete original set of woodprints belonging to the Ota Memorial Museum of Art in Tokyo.

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) was one of the last great artists in the ukiyo-e tradition. Though he captured a variety of subjects, his greatest talent was in creating landscapes of his native Edo (modern-day Tokyo) and his final masterpiece was a series known as "100 Famous Views of Edo" (1856-1858). This resplendent complete reprint pairs each of the 120 large-scale illustrations with a description, allowing readers to plunge themselves into Hiroshige's beautifully vibrant landscapes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #152837 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-27
• Original language: English, German, French
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 294 pages

About the Author
Before taking her doctorate in Far Eastern art history at the University of Heidelberg, Melanie Trede worked at the Gakushuin University in Tokyo. She was assistant professor at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University from 1999 to 2004, since which time she has been Professor of Far Eastern art history at the University of Heidelberg.

Lorenz Bichler studied Sinology, Japanese studies, and Modern History in Zurich and Beijing. After scholarships at the Waseda and Tokai universities in Japan, he was appointed assistant professor of politics at New York University in 1999. He has held non-established teaching posts at various universities, and given online instruction at the New School of Social Research. He has been a freelance sinologist working in Heidelberg since 2004.

Customer Reviews

Uncropped images
Yes, there are cropped images at the start of this huge and beautiful book to add illustrations to the informative introduction, but the main body of this publication is made up of full size, uncropped excellent reproductions of all 118 of the "100 Views". I give it the full 5 stars for the Japanese style binding, single sided printing and silk effect covered portfolio slipcase... and it's uncropped reproductions.

Gorgeous!
Gorgeous, stunning large-scale book, and an excellent addition to any art book collection - or for the coffee table. Perfect reference companion for reading with other in-depth Hiroshige books. Softcover with traditional rope binding. Protected in a silk hardcover folding case fastened by faux ivory clasps. My pics hopefully show better than my description. The detailing - binding, paper quality, plates - is exquisite. Colors and images are precise.

Complete collection of FULL-PLATE UNCROPPED prints with museum-like blurbs, succinct but fairly informative, (and a wee bit snarky in places) on the opposite page in English, German, and French. Brief introductory overview with zoomed-in detailing of selected prints. Brings back nice memories for us, having seen some of these prints on display during our visit to the Ota Memorial Museum in Nov 2008.

Superb
The new Hiroshige tome is wonderful. The colors are bright and the images are focused even including the wood grain from the original woodblock. I have a few of the original prints in my collection and am impressed with the quality of the "new" images. I liked it so much that I gave a copy to friends who also value the artist and genre.