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UTAGAWA HIROSHIGE
Japanese, 1797-1858
Horikiri Iris Garden, fifth month of 1857
From the series One Hundred
Famous Views of Edo
Polychrome woodblock print.
14 x 9 3/8 in. (36 x 24 cm)
Bequest of William P. Chapman, Jr., Class of 1895. 57.56
Toward the end of his life, Utagawa Hiroshige, one of the most prolific
and gifted Ukiyo-e landscapists of the late Edo period, produced a set of
woodblock prints entitled One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (today
Tokyo). In this immensely popular series, he conveyed a vivid vision of
nature and man through his depictions of daily life in Edo that included
famous sites, annual festivals, and seasonal spectaculars.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, the Iris Garden at Horikiri was
a well-known site to the people of Edo. In his portrayal of this garden,
Hiroshige demonstrates his penchant for radical cropping of the composition:
the iris are seen in a striking close-up arrangement, severed by the border
frame, and superimposed on the pictorial surface. A view through the enlarged
iris, like a camera's third eye, leads the viewer to the sightseers in the
distant background, who are separated from the iris by a canal.
The new method of breeding iris developed at this garden was introduced
to the West in 1852 and became an internationally famous process. In additon
to conveying the visual beauty of the iris to horticulturalists, such a
striking print could also have inspired such artists as Vincent van Gogh.
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