Twilight Moon at the Ryogoku Bridge (Ryogoku no yoizuki), from the series "Famous Views of the Eastern Capital (Toto Meisho)"

Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797-1858)

c. 1831

Medium
Color woodblock print; oban
Classification
Print
Dimensions
21.8 × 35.5 cm (8 3/4 × 14 in.)
Culture
Japan
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Asia
Credit line
Clarence Buckingham Collection
Rights
Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed

View at the Art Institute of Chicago

About this work

The early impressions of this design were printed almost entirely in shades of blue, with a subtle gradation (bokashi) from blue to white in the water. Only the pink clouds prevent the impression on the left from being an “all blue” (aizuri-e) print. Later impressions, like this one, use several other colors and now, the water is a solid blue. The design was printed with a decorative border which was has been entirely trimmed in the other print and partially trimmed in this print.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0