Edo prints
| Design: | Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806) | |||||
| Title: | Above and below Ryōgoku bridge | |||||
| Size: | 38.0 x 25.3 cm (ōban) | |||||
| Posthumous printing from newly cut woodblocks | ||||||
| Photography: | Jacques Commandeur |
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Originally released ca. 1795-6 by publisher Ōmiya Gonkurō, this version was published around the 1920s by publisher and designer Hashiguchi Goyō (1880-1921) from newly carved woodblocks.
On Ryōgoku bridge a young girl is pointing towards the scenery below while her mother, holding an infant in her arm, leans forward to see the objects of her daughter’s attention.
This is the second print in a spectacular hexaptych of woodblock prints. A simultaneous view of the prints in this hexaptych can be seen here.
Artist’s signature on middle pillar of the railing of Ryōgoku bridge:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 歌 | uta | poem | |
| 麿 | maro | you | Drawn by |
| 筆 | hitsu | writing brush | Utamaro |
Black Iwa seal on the bottom of the railing as well as the rectangular seal 23-068 of the original publisher Ōmiya Gonkurō containing his name and address: Hon Ōmiya Asakusa Kayamachi. See Marks (2011, p.69).
Red rectangular Goyo publisher seal in left margin of the print.
References
- Asano, Shūgō, and Clark, Timothy (1995). The passionate art of Kitagawa Utamaro (2 volumes in slipcase). Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun.
- Collia-Suzuki, Gina (2009). The Complete Woodblock Prints of Kitagawa Utamaro. A Descriptive Catalogue. Weston-super-Mare, United Kingdom: Nezu Press.
- Kobayashi, Tadashi (1993). Utamaro. Portraits from the Floating World. Tokyo: Kodansha International.
- Marks, Andreas (2011). Publishers of Japanese Woodblock Prints: A Compendium. Leiden: Hotei Publishing.
Provenance: Chris Uhlenbeck’s Hotei Japanese Prints