- Museum number
- 1913,0501,0.292
- Description
-
Sketchbook, one of four (Jap.Ptg.1545-1548). Sketches of scenes and views along the Kisokaido highway. Ink on paper.
- Production date
- late 1830s
- Dimensions
-
Height: 24.40 centimetres (covers)
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Width: 16.60 centimetres (covers)
- Curator's comments
-
The Kisokaido sketches in this volume correspond to 15 of the 21 prints in the second group of prints that Hiroshige designed for his Kisokaido series of the late 1830s. The sketches may have been done on a trip out from Edo along the Kisokaido in 1837, and the sketches in 1913,0501,0.291 may have been done on the return trip along the Tokaido.
(Asano Shugo, 'Hiroshige' (2024), p. 128)
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Clark 2001
Of the four small sketchbooks, two have their pages divided in half vertically and contain miniature compositions - occasionally with slight touches of colour - for hanging scroll paintings of famous places, some in Edo, some along the Kisokaido and Tokaido Highways. Certain of these compositions are very similar to extant paintings among the hundreds Hiroshige did for the Tendo domain of Dewa Province, probably during several years leading up to the autumn of 1851, when they were presented to domain creditors in lieu of debt-repayment (Kobayashi Tadashi, 'The Rediscovery of the "Tendo Hiroshiges"', 'Impressions' 22 (2000), pp. 16-35). Despite their tiny size, many of the sketches are most carefully organized, and can be considered minor masterpieces in their own right. Of the two views of Mt Fuji shown here, one, in accomplished ink wash, is seen from Edo, with Azuma Bridge in the foreground and Yanagi Bridge in the distance (right). The other, only sketchily drawn as a first idea, has the title 'Suruga Province: Satta in the snow' ('Sun[shu] Satta [no] yuki') (left). The inscription written in the sky says, 'Folding screen, Iida, Shinano Province, drawn in the summer of Ka'ei 3 [1848]' ('Ka'ei san saru natsu kore [o] zu [su], Shun[shu] Iida no byobu'), and the following pages contain suggestions for paintings for all twelve panels of a pair of six-fold screens, seemingly intended for a patron in Iida. Six of these finished paintings have recently been rediscovered in various collections in Japan (Bato-machi 2000, nos 11-16).
The other two sketchbooks show every sign of being on-the-spot notes from an actual journey made by Hiroshige, depicting scenes along the Kisokaido Highway. The researches of Narazaki Muneshige have shown many of the views were subsequently worked up by the artist into the thirty-three illustrations for the printed 'kyoka' anthology of about 1851-2, 'Kiso meisho zue' ('Famous Places along the Kiso Highway') (Narazaki Muneshige. 'Hizo ukiyo-e taikan', vol. 1, Tokyo, Kodansha, 1987, nos 15 5-64. The sketchbooks were first introduced in detail in Edward F. Strange, 'The Colour Prints of Hiroshige', London, Cassell, 1925, pp. 117-21). The detailed contents of the four sketchbooks make them highly important materials for the study of the biography and working methods of Hiroshige, as well as having considerable charm and artistic merit in their own right.
Literature:
Strange, Edward F. 'The Colour Prints of Hiroshige'. London, Cassell, 1925, pp. 117-21.
'Hizo ukiyo-e taikan'. vol. 1, Tokyo, Kodansha, 1987, nos 155 -64 (commentary by Narazaki Munshige); Bato-machi 2000, no. 43.
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Asahi 1996
スケッチ帖4冊のうち2冊は、ページを縦に区切った肉筆竪幅の縮図で、一部に淡彩がほどこされている。図様は江戸の名所や木曽街道の名所を題材にしている。縮図の構図には広重が出羽の天童藩のために描いた、現在も残る作品に極めて近いものもある。天童藩のための仕事は嘉永4年（1851）の秋までの18ヶ月ほどの間になされたであろう。小さいサイズの画面ではあるが、構図はよく練り上げられているものが多く、この作品自体小さいながら名品として評価できよう。
残りの2冊は広重が実際に旅をした現地での記録とみえ、木曽街道ぞいの景色が描かれている。楢崎宗重の調査によると、その景色を後に広重は狂歌本『岐蘇名所図会』の挿絵33図に多く取り入れているという（楢崎宗重監修『秘蔵浮世絵大観』第1巻 1987年 講談社 155－164図 [。] 本スケッチ帖が最初に詳しく紹介されたのは次の文献である。Edward F. Strange, ‘The Colour Prints of Hiroshige’, London, Cassell, 1925, pp.117-121）。作品の下絵とみられる図に、嘉永元年（1848）の夏に信濃飯田の注文主のために制作された屏風の図であるという書込（嘉永元申夏図之信飯田ノ屏風）がある。とすると広重は3月頃江戸を発って、4月中に飯田に立ち寄り、その後木曽街道に戻って旅行を続けたことになる。本スケッチ帖の内容は細部にいたるまで、広重の作品制作の手法や伝記の研究にかなり重要な資料である。またこの作品自体も魅力があり芸術的な価値が認められる。
（伊藤紫織（千葉市美術館））
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2001, 11 May-29 Jul, BM Japanese Galleries, '100 Views of Mount Fuji'
2007 Nov 28-2008 Jan 20, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK, 'Utagawa Hiroshige: The Moon Reflected'
2008 Mar 8-Apr 26, Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool, UK, 'Utagawa Hiroshige: The Moon Reflected'
2008 Oct-2009 Feb 15, BM Japanese Galleries, 'Japan from prehistory to present'
- Acquisition date
- 1913
- Acquisition notes
- The collection of Japanese and Chinese paintings belonging to Arthur Morrison was purchased by Sir William Gwynne-Evans, who presented it to the British Museum in 1913.
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1913,0501,0.292
- Additional IDs
-
Asia painting number: Jap.Ptg.1546 (Japanese Painting Number)
