The Alternative in Ukiyo-e - The Lonely Ando Hiroshige

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), formerly known as Ando Hiroshige, was a Japanese ukiyo-e painter. In 1811, he became a student of the ukiyo-e master Utagawa Toyohiro in Edo. His series of 55 landscapes from 1833 to 1834, "The Fifty-Three Journeys to the Tokaido", established him as one of the most popular ukiyo-e artists of all time. His talent was first recognized by Western Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters, and Hiroshige was greatly influenced by them. Utagawa Hiroshige's style is relatively close to the people, elegant and sketchy. At that time in Japan, he was a well-known painter among the people. His works are mainly landscape paintings, and he has drawn all the familiar plants and trees of Edo into the canvas, such as Kanda Someya.

Hiroshige Ando's works are an alternative to Ukiyo-e, or in other words, they go in the opposite direction of Ukiyo-e. “We originally wanted to use pleasure to fill the emptiness, but after the pleasure, we fell into an even deeper abyss of emptiness.”

In 1797, Ando Hiroshige was born. At that time, Japan's Edo period had passed for nearly 200 years, and Ukiyo-e was produced in this era. The development of Ukiyo-e is a process. It constantly breaks through the limitations of world painting techniques and printing technology at that time, vividly depicts and records the customs and customs of Japan's feudal society in the Edo period, reflects the growth of the emerging class that opposes feudal forces, and Representing its needs and tastes, it coincides with the end of an old era and the beginning of a new era.

Hiroshige Ando participated in the "Sixty-nine Times of Kiso Streets" series between 1837 and 1838. Compared with "The Fifty-Three Times on the Tokaido Road", "The Sixty-Nine Times on the Kiso Streets" is almost "in the same vein" in terms of expression and technique, but the image is more calm and lonely, emphasizing the conveyance of the emptiness of journey and life, and has a sense of life. Works that are humorous and interesting are rare.

"The Fifty-Three Times on the Tokaido Road" is a fresh set of travel genre paintings. This series of works caused a sensation in Edo at that time and has been popular ever since. It is considered Hiroshige's famous work. Hiroshige uses characters to express the beauty or loneliness of the scenery, rather than using the scenery to set off the characters. He expresses emotional details with calm character details instead of imposing emotions on the picture.