Hiroshige 広重: Ryogoku Bridge and the Great Riverbank 両国橋大川端 (SOLD)

Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige 広重 (1797-1858) Title: Ryogoku Bridge and the Great Riverbank 両国橋大川端 Series: One Hundred Famous Views of Edo: Meisho Edo Hyakkei 名所江戸百景 Date: 1857 Colorful red “glove clouds” cling to the far shore as throngs of pedestrians make their way across the famous Ryogoku Bridge. In the foreground are stalls for shops, complete with noren curtains and red lanterns. Boats of of various types ply the river, including some under sail on the opposite side of the bridge. Hiroshige himself wrote that Ryôgoku Bridge was “the liveliest place in the Eastern Capital...day and night, the amusements never cease” (Ehon Edo Miyage, vol. I). Here he has focused on the everyday traffic on and above the river, rather than the hustle and bustle  of the entertainment centers along the banks. As Henry Smith II notes “...the artist has simply supplied the form, in a balanced Z-shaped composition that emphasizes the role of the bridge as a place of passage rather than a node of pleasure”.