Image: Memorial Portrait of Utagawa Hiroshige (5765350019)

Description: Accession Number: 1957.384 Display Artist: Utagawa Kunisada Display Title: Memorial Portrait of Utagawa Hiroshige Creation Date: 1858 Medium: Woodblock Height: 14 in. Width: 9 3/8 in. Display Dimensions: 14 in. x 9 3/8 in. (35.56 cm x 23.81 cm) Publisher: Sakanay Eikichi Credit Line: Bequest of Mrs. Cora Timken Burnett Label Copy: "This portrait of the artist Hiroshige shows him as he looked just before his death, with the robes and shaven head of a Buddhist priest. At the age of sixty, two years before his death of an undetermined long illness, he took monks vows. Memorial prints like this, issued after the passing of a notable person in the arts, were common for Kabuki actors, but not so for print artists. The designer of this print was a leading artist of the time, who signed it: Toyokuni drew this with tears flowing in remembrance. The lengthy inscription is a biographical eulogy, and in one of the seals, there is a Buddhist saying: life is but a mere puff of smoke.The final inscription is the death poem composed by Hiroshige himself:Leaving my brush in the East,I follow the skies of travelTo see the famous places of the Western Paradise." Label Copy (Spanish): "Este retrato del artista Hiroshige lo muestra como se hubiera visto justo antes de su muerte, con las vestimentas y la cabeza rasurada de un sacerdote budista. A la edad de sesenta aos, dos aos antes de su muerte causada por una larga enfermedad desconocida, hizo los votos de monje. Las impresiones conmemorativas como esta, realizadas despus de la muerte de una persona notable en las artes, eran comunes para actores del Kabuki pero no para artistas grficos. Esta estampa la dise un artista importante de la poca y la firm: Toyokuni dibuj esto con lgrimas que manan del recuerdo. La inscripcin larga es un panegrico y en uno de los sellos hay un dicho budista: La vida es una mera bocanada de humo.La inscripcin final es el poema mortuorio compuesto por el mismo Hiroshige: Dejando mi pincel en el Este,Sigo los cielos del viajePara ver los famosos lugares del Paraso Occidental." Collection: <a href="http://www.sdmart.org/art/our-collection/asian-art" rel="nofollow">The San Diego Museum of Art</a>
Title: Memorial Portrait of Utagawa Hiroshige (5765350019)
Credit: Flickr
Author: thesandiegomuseumofartcollection
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No