Amerika Karuhorunia Ko shuppan no zu|Sailing from a California Port
Medium
Triptych of woodblock prints; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
Image: 14 1/4 x 28 15/16 in. (36.2 x 73.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Lincoln Kirstein, 1959
Accession Number
JP3268
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step aboard the bustling harbor of 19th-century California in Utagawa (Gountei) Sadahide's captivating triptych *Amerika Karuhorunia shuppan no zu (Sailing from a California)*, created in 1862. This woodblock print, rendered in vivid ink and color on paper unfolds a panoramic scene of towering ships, lively crowds of men and women, and the excitement of maritime departure. Sadahide, a master of thetagawa school renowned for ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world"), skillfully captures the energy of a foreign port, blending Japanese precision with exotic Western elements. Produced during Jap...
About the Artist
Utagawa (Gountei) Sadahide · 1807–1873
Utagawa Sadahide was born Hashimoto Kenjirō in 1807 in Fusa Province, in the area of modern Chiba Prefecture, Japan. In the 1820s he entered the studio of the enormously prolific and influential master Utagawa Kunisada, becoming one of Kunisada's most prominent pupils and adopting the studio name Sadahide along with the Utagawa school's celebrated lineage. By 1828 his name appeared on a monument l...