Exhibition: Hiroshige’s Japan:53 Stations of the Tokaido Road Landscape, Cityscape

Utagawa Hiroshige 1797 - 1858 is one of Japans most prolific print designers he was also a painter and book illustrator. The exquisitely designed woodblock prints exhibition, show the amazing landscapes,views, stories and lives of people who lived and worked in the mountains villages between the cities of Edo and Kyoto. They capture the different seasons and moods of that time and century. The intricate illustrations,the colours and tones used and inscribed poems are beautifully crafted works of art, that would go on to influence some of the worlds most renowned artist such as Monet and Van Gogh.

The show presents images of the step by step stages of the technique for the woodblock process and some of the detailed key blocks and how the artist and publisher would have to have approval for their designs by official government censors. Who would check that the designs did not in any way contradict or go against the current government and their rules. It showed the equipment and tools required for the production of the prints and the types of papers used.

Also on show are some of the the galleries own items of Japanese artefacts of craved ivory figures and Samuri swords. This range of prints established Hiroshima as Japan’s leading landscape printer of his era and the talented and skilled artist went on to produce more desirable and quality print designs over his fifty year career.

There is also a book available to purchase which contains a vast array of Hiroshige's works

1st August- 21st November 2015, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Lichfield Street, Wolverhampton, West midlands WV1 1DU.