VAM galleries including this work:
Berea College | How’d They Do That? || VAM Home

This woodblock print by Ando Hiroshige depicts a nighttime waterscape. The bright light of the moon illuminates the sky and lake, revealing the silhouette of a boat and its passengers. The vertical lines of the structure erected in the water work to equalize the strongly horizontal composition, creating a peaceful balance appropriate for such a serene scene.

About the Artist

Ando Hiroshige was born in Edo (now known as Tokyo) in 1797. He studied art under renowned painter Utagawa Toyohiro, graduating by the age of 15. As was customary for pupils upon the completion of their studies, Hiroshige adopted the name of his former instructor and began signing his work as Utagawa instead of Ando. He is recognized as the last great artist of Ukiyo-e (oo-kee-oh-ay), a style of printmaking popular during the Edo period in Japan. Hiroshige’s work enjoyed incredible popularity in his day. While he also created prints of young ladies, actors, and subjects like fish and flowers, he was best known for his lyrical landscapes. He was a prolific artist, creating roughly 5,400 prints in all.

Classroom Ideas

Discussion: Think about how Hiroshige has used the elements of art in View of Lake Near Yedo. What kind of emotion does this print evoke? How would the mood of the work change if the artist had made this a day scene? If he had used more color?

Activity: Using your choice of paint, select one main color to paint an outdoor composition in the style of Hiroshige’s print. Mix the color you have chosen to create lighter, darker, brighter, and duller tones of the color. When you have chosen your subject and are ready to paint, remember to keep your forms simple and to balance the vertical and horizontal lines of your composition.

Links

A comprehensive listing of links to museums with information about and images of Hiroshige’s work can be found in the ArtCyclopedia.
[www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/hiroshige_ando.html]

John Fiorillo’s Viewing Japanese Prints is a series of illustrated essays on the designs and artists of traditional and modern Japanese woodblock prints.
[optometry.berkeley.edu/~fiorillo/]

Learn more about how works like this one were made with J. Noel Chiappa’s The Production of Japanese Woodblock Prints.
[users.exis.net/~jnc/nontech/prints/process.html]

For a lesson exploring the history and evolution of the Japanese woodblock print, or Ukiyo-e, with directions on how to create one, see Japanese Woodblock Prints on the Kennedy Center’s ArtsEdge web site.
[artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3419/]