Mountain Gorge in Winter
Utagawa Hiroshige, Mountain Gorge in Winter, 1840/1844, color woodblock print on paper; ōban nishiki-e; vertical diptych, The Mary Andrews Ladd Collection, public domain, 32.562a,b
This work is not currently on view.
- Title
Mountain Gorge in Winter
- Related Titles
original language: 雪中山水
transliterated: Setchū sansui
- Artist
- Related People
publisher: Sanoya Kihei (Japanese, active 18th-19th century)
- Date
1840/1844
- Period
Japan: Edo period (1615-1868)
- Medium
color woodblock print on paper; ōban nishiki-e; vertical diptych
- Catalogue Raisonné
Forrer 1997, no. 118.
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
sheet: 28 1/4 in x 9 15/16 in
- Inscriptions & Markings
artist's seal: 弌立斎, printed in red intaglio within square cartouche, upper left Transliteration (Translation): Ichiryūsai ([seal of the artist Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重]) Language: Japanese
signature: 廣重筆, printed in black ink, upper left Transliteration (Translation): Hiroshige hitsu (brushed [by] Hiroshige) Language: Japanese
- Collection Area
Asian Art; Graphic Arts
- Category
Prints
Japanese Traditional Prints
- Object Type
relief print
- Culture
Japanese
- Credit Line
The Mary Andrews Ladd Collection
- Accession Number
32.562a,b
- Copyright
public domain
- Terms
In this dramatic snowscape, a host of majestic peaks towers over diminutive figures heading to a village nestled in the depths of a gorge. The print’s long vertical format and forceful calligraphic lines recall a hanging-scroll painting (kakemono). Hiroshige has also borrowed from the Chinese landscape painting tradition to create a layered composition through which the eye and mind can travel. In Chinese ink painting, landscapes offered the viewer an imaginative escape to the country, away from the stresses of city life and civic duties. More affordable than an ink painting, this print diptych was perhaps designed to offer the solace of nature to the average Edo townsman.
- Exhibitions
2022; 2023 Human Nature: 150 Years of Japanese Landscape Prints Portland Art Museum
