Hiroshige: Artist of the Open Road – a 'rapturous' exhibition
The British Museum showcases enchanting work by the prolific Japanese artist

This exhibition is something of a landmark, said Alastair Sooke in The Daily Telegraph. It is the first in this country in 25 years "to celebrate so extensively" the prolific Japanese artist Utagawa Hiroshige (1797- 1858), a graphic genius whose work had a huge impact far beyond Japan. Born into "a low-ranking samurai family" in Edo (now Tokyo), Hiroshige became renowned for his "lyrical and atmospheric colour-woodblock prints".
Like other artists of the "floating world" (a pleasure-seeking urban lifestyle), he created pictures of bijin (beautiful women), actors and street scenes, before turning to landscape, a genre he helped invigorate: he made his name with a series depicting the Tokaido, the coastal highway between Edo and Kyoto. His prints were disseminated widely and eventually made their way to Europe. His "bold" artistic vision is "everywhere apparent" in this show, which presents almost 120 prints and paintings, "awash with enchanting images of Japan's awe-inspiring scenery".
Hiroshige "lived in turbulent times, just before Japan's opening up to the West", said Mark Hudson in The Independent. Yet there was also a boom in domestic tourism, and a demand for guide books and images recording pilgrimages or sight-seeing tours. He was a commercial artist; many of his pictures – "of crowds milling over bridges towards famous shrines" or "twirling their parasols" in celebrated beauty spots – are essentially tourist posters. This doesn't make them any less stunning, though. That he conjured such effects using woodblock, a notoriously difficult technique, makes them all the more remarkable. He "designed his images to maximise the limited possibilities of his medium", using "startling and essentially abstract" imagery to represent natural phenomena: "the trails of light-filled smoke drifting across dark mountains" in Karuizawa (1830s), for instance, "were created essentially by leaving the paper blank". Such works would have a major impact on European art.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Western artists took more than stylistic cues from Hiroshige, said Jonathan Jones in The Guardian. The impressionists, it's clear, borrowed a whole "philosophy" from him: that of celebrating "pleasure in the passing moment" and savouring "little freedoms". Hiroshige's pictures see people delighting in transient moments, from "a shower of rain or fresh crisp snow to a restaurant meal or trip to the theatre". One sees a group of people wrapped up warm to watch the spectacle of falling snow; another depicts a crowd enjoying an al fresco dinner on a dried-up riverbed, laughing and chattering away, and unwittingly anticipating Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe. Such is European art's obvious debt to Hiroshige that a final section exploring his "global influence" feels rushed and incomplete. That aside, this is a "rapturous" exhibition packed with images that still feel "fresh" and timeless.
British Museum, London WC1. Until 7 September
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Storm warning
Feature The U.S. is headed for an intense hurricane season. Will a shrunken FEMA and NOAA be able to respond?
-
U.S. v. Skrmetti: Did the trans rights movement overreach?
Feature The Supreme Court upholds a Tennessee law that bans transgender care for minors, dealing a blow to trans rights
-
How would the Trump administration denaturalize immigrant citizens?
Today's Big Question Using civil courts lowers the burden of proof
-
The tourist flood in the Mediterranean: can it be stemmed?
Talking Point Finger-pointing at Airbnb or hotel owners obscures the root cause of overtourism in holiday hotspots: unmanageable demand
-
Thai fish pie with crispy turmeric potatoes recipe
The Week Recommends Tasty twist on the Lancashire hot pot is given a golden glow
-
Axel Scheffler picks his favourite books
The Week Recommends From Steig to Finkelstein, the award-winning illustrator shares his top picks
-
Lovestuck: a 'warm-hearted' musical with a 'powerhouse score'
The Week Recommends Team behind the hit podcast My Dad Wrote a Porno have created a hilarious show about a disastrous viral Tinder date
-
Outrageous: glossy Mitford family drama is full of 'fun, fashion and froth'
The Week Recommends Adaptation of Mary Lovell's biography examines the scandalous lives of the aristocratic sisters
-
F1: The Movie – a fun but formulaic 'corporate tie-in'
Talking Point Brad Pitt stars as a washed up racing driver returning three decades after a near-fatal crash
-
Lost Boys: a 'sobering' journey to the heart of the manosphere
The Week Recommends James Bloodworth examines the 'cranks and hucksters' making money through 'masculine discontent'
-
6 productivity-ready homes with great offices
Feature Featuring an office with a gas fireplace in Oregon and a shared workspace with wraparound windows in Massachusetts