Hiroshige: One Hundred Famous Views of EDO
Hiroshige: One Hundred Views of Edo (Taschen, $150), edited by Melanie Trede and Lorenz Bichler, is presented with a satin covered “book case” and Japanese-bound with nylon twine. Working in the tradition of ukiyo-e, or “pictures of the floating world,” developed by Japanese artists of the 17th century, Hiroshige (1797-1858), perhaps the most famous of ukiyo-e woodblock printers, produced these vibrant scenes of his home city, Edo (later Tokyo), late in life. This great artist’s final masterpiece is reproduced here from a complete original set of woodprints belonging to the Ota Memorial Museum of Art in Tokyo. Each full-color, large-format picture is accompanied with commentary that details the artist’s techniques of execution and composition, along with the historical importance of the print itself.
