(Facsimile?) Black-naped oriole and clematis
1840s
Medium
Color woodblock print; aitanzaku
Dimensions
34.3 × 11.8 cm (13 1/2 × 4 5/8 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
26315
Art Historical Context
Utagawa Hiroshige, a master of the ukiyo-e tradition during Japan's Edo period (1603–1868), created this exquisite color woodblock print in the 1840s. Titled *(Facsimile?) Black-n oriole and clem*, it exemplifies the kachō-e genre—depictions of birds and flowers that celebrated the fleeting beauty of nature. Hiroshige, famed for his poetic landscapes like those in *The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō*, brought the same sensitivity to these intimate scenes, capturing the vibrant plumage of the black-naped oriole perched amid delicate clematis blooms. Printed in the narrow aitanzaku format ...
About the Artist
Utagawa Hiroshige · 1826–1869
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858), born Andō Tokutarō, was the last great master of Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock printmaking and one of the most influential landscape artists in history. Born in Edo (modern Tokyo) into a low-ranking samurai family serving as fire wardens, Hiroshige transformed landscape printmaking into a poetic meditation on nature, weather, and everyday life. His revolutionary approac...