Landscape with Heron and Boat
18th century
Medium
Color woodblock print; hosoban, benizuri-e
Dimensions
31.5 × 15 cm (12 3/8 × 5 7/8 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
15752
Art Historical Context
Nishimura Shigenaga's *Landscape with Heron and Boat* is a captivating 18th-century color woodblock print from Japan's Edo period, exemplifying the ukiyo-e tradition of "pictures of the floating world." Shigenaga, a pupil of the innovative Okumura Masanobu, specialized in early polychrome techniques, blending serene natural scenes with subtle human elements like the distant boat. This hosoban format—narrow and vertical at 31.5 × 15 cm—made it ideal for affordable, portable art, popular among urban merchants and travelers. Printed as a benizuri-e, or "rose-colored print," it employs a pioneeri...
About the Artist
Nishimura Shigenaga · 1690–1758
Nishimura Shigenaga (c. 1697–1756) was a pioneering Japanese ukiyo-e printmaker born in Edo (modern-day Tokyo), where he initially worked as a landlord in the Tōriabura-chō district before relocating to Kanda-Sakumachō to operate a bookshop. Self-taught with no known formal teacher, he immersed himself in art around 1719, drawing early inspiration from the Torii school's yakusha-e (actor portraits...