Hiroshige: One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

Museum / Braziller. New. 1986. Hardcover. 0807611433 .*** FREE UPGRADE to Courier/Priority Shipping Upon Request *** - *** IN STOCK AND IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE FOR SHIPMENT - FLAWLESS COPY, BRAND NEW, PRISTINE, NEVER OPENED - Originally published 1986. 256 pages ; 4.3 pounds; 119 full color plates. -- This final series of woodblock prints by the celebrated 19th century Japanese artist Utagawa (Ando) Hiroshige, is considered to be the finest example of his masterwork. Each plate is accompanied by a commentary that discusses its artistic and cultural interest in detail. The brilliant ukiyo-e printmaker, revealed the panorama of his city’s (Edo, which is now named Tokyo) activities with subtle and vivid visual anecdotes. The 100 scenes are really vignettes of life in all seasons, from many points of view. --Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, actually composed of 118 splendid woodblock landscape and genre scenes of mid-nineteenth century Tokyo, is one of the greatest achievements of Japanese art. The series contains many of Hiroshige's best-loved and most extraordinary prints. Like Venice and Florence in the 14th and 15th centuries, or Paris in the age of the Impressionists, the city of Edo, with its superb landmarks and its festive display of elegant urban life, exerts a special and compelling fascination. Hiroshige revealed the panorama of his city's activities with subtle and vivid visual anecdotes: fireworks seen from the river, fashionable geishas on parade, the kabuki district at night, intimate moments in the gardens and teahouses. It is a tour de force of artistic vision and printmaking craftsmanship. This edition has been reproduced from an exceptionally fine, first-edition set in the Brooklyn Museum of Art to insure maximum fidelity to the original prints. Henry Smith ex-plains the world of Edo in its twilight before the Meiji Restoration and the beginnings of a modern urban society. Each plate is accompanied by a commentary that discusses its artistic and cultural interest in detail. For anyone interested in Japan, the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo is perhaps the finest guide and one of the greatest legacies imaginable. -- with a bonus offer-- .