Motomura no yūdachi|Evening Glow at Motomura [Two Englishmen looking at the sunset]
1st month, 1861
![Motomura no yūdachi|Evening Glow at Motomura [Two Englishmen looking at the sunset] by Utagawa Yoshitora](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/met/as/thumb/motomura-no-ydachievening-glow-at-motomura-two-73475.webp)
Medium
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
Image: 14 1/8 x 9 3/4 in. (35.9 x 24.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of William S. Lieberman, 2005
Accession Number
2007.49.188
Tags
About this artwork
This polychrome woodblock print exemplifies the Yokohama-e genre that flourished following Japan's opening to foreign trade in 1859. Created by Utagawa Yoshitora in the first month of 1861, the print depicts two Englishmen observing the evening glow at Motomura, combining traditional Japanese landscape aesthetics with fascinated documentation of newly arrived foreigners. When Yokohama port opened to Western traders and diplomats, ukiyo-e artists, primarily from the Utagawa school, produced hundr...
About the Artist
Utagawa Yoshitora · 1845–1880
Utagawa Yoshitora (歌川 芳虎), also known by his art names Ichimōsai, Mōsai, and Kinchōrō, was a prolific ukiyo-e artist born in Edo (modern Tokyo), where he trained under the renowned Utagawa Kuniyoshi, recognized as his oldest pupil. Little is known of his early life, which remains sparsely documented, but his earliest works include illustrations for the book *Story of Karasu Kanzaemon’s Loyalty* in...