Utagawa Hiroshige II (Rissho)

1829-1869

One Hundred Views of Famous Places in the Provinces: Misty Falls of Nikko
(Shokoku meisho hyakkei: Nikko Shimofuri no taki)

signed Hiroshige ga with publisher's seal Shitaya, Uoei han (Sakanaya Eikichi) and censor's date seal Aratame Hitsuji-ju (examined, year of the goat [1859], 10th month), with circular BERES (Huguette Beres) seal on verso, 1859

oban tate-e 14 3/8 by 9 3/4 in., 36.4 by 24.8 cm

Born Suzuki Chinpei in 1826, the artist known as Hiroshige II was the son of a fireman, as was his teacher, Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), to whom he was apprenticed at a young age. Intitally working under the go (art name) Shigenobu, he was married to his master's daughter Otatsu, and inherited the Hiroshige name at the passing of his father-in-law in 1858. In addition to producing landscapes in the Hiroshige style, he frequently collaborated with other artists, especially with Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865). Following a divorce from Otatsu (and around the same time as the passing of Kunisada) he took the name Kisai Rissho and moved to Yokohama in 1865 where produced works illustrating the booming port city inhabited by foreigners. Although his prints were included in the international exposition in Paris in 1867, he had little success at home and eventually was painting export tea chests, kites, and lanterns to earn a living. He died at the young age of 44 in September 1869. Another student of Hiroshige I, Shigemasa (Toto Torakichi, 1842/43-1894), later married Otatsu and began using the Hiroshige name, his work is now identified as that of Hiroshige III.

Although the title indicates the publisher intended to produce 100 meisho-e (pictures of famous views) in this series, only 85 were completed between 1859 and 1861- a dynamic time in Japan just before the Meiji period (1868-1912) when the entire ukiyo-e industry was just beginning to come to grips with the rapidly changing tastes of a society suddenly open to the West. This particular design is surely one of the strongest from the series, but oddly, appears to be one of the rarest as well as is not found in many institution collections.

Provenance:
Huguette Beres, Paris (1914-1999)

References:
The British Museum, museum no. 1915,0823,0.329.27
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Louis W. Hill Collection, accession no. P.75.51.638; and 87.29.3
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, object no. RP-P-2008-165

(inv. no. C-4020)

price: $8,500 (reserved)