Sadahide Utagawa, Yokohama, New Port in Kanagawa
Artist: Sadahide Utagawa (1807-1873)
Title: Yokohama, New Port in Kanagawa
Publisher: Yamaguchiya Tobei
Date: 1860
Size: (L) 37 x 25.5 (C) 37.2 x 25.5 (R) 37.2 x 25.3 cm
Condition: Slight wear and soiling, crease on the top of the left panel, light marks due to old glue on the left panel.
In 1859 the port of Yokohama was opened to foreigners, and ukiyo-e artists, primarily of the Utagawa school, produced hundreds of woodblock print designs in response to a general curiosity about strangers.
Sadahide Utagawa was a prolific but minor woodblock printmaker and illustrator, producing some theatrical prints in the Osaka manner as well as prints of traditional Japanese subjects and, after Yokohama was opened to the West, of contemporary industrial scenes and foreigners. His effective and decorative prints show the influence of Western perspective and chiaroscuro.
Sadahide Utagawa
Sadahide was a prolific but minor woodblock printmaker and illustrator. His style was born out of the Utagawa school in which he studied, his early works centring around Bijin-ga, beauty portraits and later producing ukiyo-e prints in the landscape and musha-e genres. However, he is most well-known for his Yokohama-e; scenes of modern industry and foreigners in Yokohama. Sadahide produced not just print, but guidebooks to Yokohama, teaching the habits of foreign residents hoping to dispel myths about them, and also show the Japanese people what can learn from Western customs.
Throughout his work, Sadahide’s effective and decorative prints show the influence of Western perspective and chiaroscuro. He was chosen as one ukiyo-e artist in the Tokugawa Shogun’s delegation to the 1867 Paris exhibition, giving him the chance to be shown internationally in a period where he was a best-selling artist in Japan.
| Print Format | Triptych |
|---|---|
| Artist | Sadahide Utagawa |
| Subject | Male & Female, Landscapes, Yokohama-e/Nagasaki-e |
| Dimensions | (L) 37 x 25.5 (C) 37.2 x 25.5 (R) 37.2 x 25.3 cm |
| Condition Report | Slight wear and soiling, crease on the top of the left panel, light marks due to old glue on the left panel. |
