Accession Number
1948/1.132

Title
The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido (Kichizo Edition): #39 Okazaki, Yahagi Bridge over the Toyokawa River

Artist(s)
Utagawa Hiroshige

Artist Nationality
Japanese (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
circa 1850

Medium & Support
color woodblock print on paper

Dimensions
6 1/2 in x 9 in (16.51 cm x 22.86 cm);14 3/8 in x 19 3/8 in (36.51 cm x 49.21 cm);6 1/2 in x 9 in (16.51 cm x 22.86 cm);10 in x 12 7/8 in (25.4 cm x 32.7 cm)

Credit Line
Bequest of Margaret Watson Parker

Label copy
Ando Hiroshige
Japan, 1797–1858
Gyôsho Tôkaidô Series: Okazaki, Yahagi Bridge over
the Toyokawa River
Edo period (1615–1868)
circa 1841–42
Color woodblock print
Bequest of Margaret Watson Parker, 1948/1.132
Ando Hiroshige III
Japan, 1843–94
Famous Places of Edo: Ryogoku Bridge, Evening Fireworks
Edo period (1615–1868)
circa 1865–75
Bequest of Margaret Watson Parker, 1948/1.143
Whistler’s views of Battersea Bridge, which he depicted in paintings and prints in the 1870s, are in some ways an homage to Japanese prints. Not only does he take a venerable bridge as his subject in lithographs such as The Tall Bridge and The Broad Bridge and the etching Old Battersea Bridge (on the walls adjacent to this case), it is evident that he was experimenting with Japanese visual conventions in his portrayals. The compositional similarities to Japanese prints include the low vantage point; the structure of the bridges themselves, with their gently arcing profiles, wooden piers, and pedestrian railings; the presence of sailboats under the spans; and the low open boats in the foreground. Whistler’s works, however, are never merely imitative of Japanese prints—instead the visual strategies found in them are employed in the service of his distinctive aesthetic approach to subject and medium.

Subject matter
Landscape with a bridge over the water.

Physical Description
The print depicts an arch bridge over water, with travelers walking across the bridge. Several boats are sailing on the water, while two fishermen are standing on the shallow area by the waterbank.

Primary Object Classification
Print

Primary Object Type
color print

Additional Object Classification(s)
Print

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
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Keywords
boats
bridges (built works)
travelers (people by activity)
water (inorganic material)
woodcuts (prints)