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A Prosperous American Merchant Building in Yokohama (Yokohama asanban shokan hanei no zu)

Utagawa Hiroshige III

1871

A Prosperous American Merchant Building in Yokohama (Yokohama asanban shokan hanei no zu) by Utagawa Hiroshige III

Medium

Color woodblock print; oban triptych

Classification

woodblock print

Department

Arts of Asia

Museum

Art Institute of Chicago

Accession Number

32369

Art Historical Context

In the vibrant world of 19th-century Japanese ukiyo-e prints, Utagawa Hiroshige III captures a moment of profound cultural transformation with *A Prosperous American Merchant Building in Yokohama* (1871). This color woodblock print, presented as an impressive oban triptych—three large panels that unfold into a panoramic vista—depicts the grand American trading house in Yokohama, symbolizing the influx of Western commerce into Japan. Hiroshige III, a successor to the famed landscape master Utagawa Hiroshige, skillfully blends traditional Japanese printmaking techniques with depictions of modern...

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