Butterfly and Flowers
early 19th century
Medium
Color woodblock print; surimono
Dimensions
21.4 × 18.4 cm (8 7/16 × 7 1/4 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
81338
Art Historical Context
Utagawa Hiroshige II, also known as Shigenobu, created this delicate color woodblock print titled *Butterfly and Flowers* in the early nineteenth century. As an artist of the Utagawa school and adopted son of the celebrated Hiroshige I, he continued the tradition of capturing nature’s quiet beauty with refined observation. The composition centers on a butterfly alighting among blossoms, a motif long celebrated in Japanese art for its evocation of fleeting moments and seasonal change. The work is a *surimono*, a privately commissioned print often produced in limited editions for poetry circles...
About the Artist
Utagawa Hiroshige II (Shigenobu) · 1826–1869
Utagawa Hiroshige II, born Suzuki Chinpei in 1826, was one of the most accomplished ukiyo-e artists of mid-nineteenth century Japan. He entered the studio of the celebrated landscape master Utagawa Hiroshige I — known for his iconic series "The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido" — and proved himself the most talented of the elder artist's few students. So highly regarded was the young pupil that...