Gazing at Mt. Fuji on the Horse
19th century
Medium
Color woodblock print; surimono
Dimensions
19.5 × 26.2 cm (7 11/16 × 10 3/8 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
81409
Art Historical Context
In the serene world of 19th-century Japanese ukiyo-e, Utagawa Toyohiro *Gazing at Mt. Fuji on the Horse* a moment of quiet reverence. Toyohiro (1773–1825), a master of the Uawa school and mentor to the famed Hiroshige, crafted this intimate color woodblock print as a *surimono*—a luxurious, privately commissioned piece often featuring poetry and fine embellishments. Measuring just 19.5 × 26.2 cm, its compact size made it perfect for personal collections, evoking the "floating world" of everyday beauty amid nature's grandeur. The artwork's title hints at a traveler pausing on horseback to cont...
About the Artist
Utagawa Toyohiro · 1763–1828
Utagawa Toyohiro (1763–1828) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist and painter who founded a major branch of the Utagawa school and is best remembered as the teacher of Utagawa Hiroshige, one of the greatest landscape print designers in Japanese art history. Born in Edo (present-day Tokyo), he studied under Utagawa Toyoharu, the founder of the Utagawa school, who was noted for introducing Western perspect...