Utagawa Hiroshige III (三代目歌川広重) (artist 1842 – 1894)
Andō Tokubei (安藤徳兵衛)Gotō Torakichi (birth name: 後藤寅吉)
Utagawa (surname: 歌川)
Hiroshige (geimei 広重)
Shigemasa (geimei 重政)
Shigetora (geimei 重寅)
Isshōsai (gō 一笑齋)
Ryūsai (gō 立齋)
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Biography:
Laurance Roberts gives his birth year as 1843, while almost all other sources say 1842.
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Osakaprints.com wrote:
"Utagawa Hiroshige III (三代 歌川広重 1842 / 1843-1894) was born Gotô Torakichi (後藤寅吉), the son of a shipbuilder in the Fukugawa (深川) district of Edo. He first studied as a teenager with Utagawa Hiroshige I (1797-1858) until the master's death. His early art name was Shigemasa (重政). In 1867, after Utagawa Hiroshige II (1826-1869), a fellow pupil of the first Hiroshige, divorced the master's adopted daughter Otatsu, Gotô married her and took the name Hiroshige II, but by 1869, he decided to call himself Hiroshige III."
"Much of Hiroshige III's work was focused on so-called kaika-e (enlightenment pictures: 開化絵), meaning prints that illustrated the popular political mantra of the day, Bunmei kaika(“Revolution in civilization,” or "Civilization and enlightenment": 文明開化). Typical subjects — all reflecting the influence of the West — included Japanese architecture (brick buildings), infrastructure (railroads, bridges), and manners and customs (dresses, bowler hats). Mostly, these designs reflected the modernization of early Meiji Japan during the 1870s and 1880s. Of particular importance, scenes of Westernization and new forms of Meiji restoration were admired and sought after. Partly, there was a didactic purpose in issuing such prints, although financial profitability always remained of paramount concern to Hiroshige III and his publishers. Today, kaika-e often prove to be valuable as visualizations of how the Japanese perceived the influence and desirability of adopting Western manners and customs, architecture, and science."
"An example of a kaika-e by Hiroshige III is shown on the left. Titled Surugachô Mitsui kan (Mitsui Bank Building in Surugachô: する賀町三つ井館), it is from the series Tokyo fuka meisho zukushi (Enumeration of famous places in Tokyo suburban districts: 東京府下名所尽) published by Tsujiokaya Kamekichi in 1875. This sheet exemplifies the transitional nature of ukiyo-e urban subjects in early Meiji Japan. There is, for instance, the hybrid clothing of the pedestrians who wear either conventional Japanese kimono and coats or Western-style fashions. Flowering cherry tress are in full bloom, and majestic Mount Fuji can be seen off in the distance under a sunlit red sky. However, what stands in contrast to these Japanese emblems is the newly constructed Mitsui Bank in Surugachô. Completed in 1874, it combined traditional Japanese woodworking techniques with a Western-style approach to design."
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Utagawa Hiroshige III 三代目歌川広重 (1842-1894)
Utagawa Hiroshige III (三代目歌川広重) was the son of a shipbuilder in Edo’s Fukagawa district, later adopted by a restaurant owner named Ryotei, he became a student of Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) in his mid-teens. With his master’s death in 1858 he studied with Utagawa Hiroshige II (1826-1869), who was married to Hiroshige’s daughter, Otatsu. Reportedly his first work was the illustration of the ninth volume of the ehon (picture book) Edo miyage (Picture-book of Edo Souvenirs, 1864). With the dissolution of the Hiroshige II’s marriage and Hiroshige II's subsequent return to Yokohama in 1865, Hiroshige III married Otatsu and succeeded to the Hiroshige name.
While none of the lyricism seen in the work of Hiroshige I is detected in his prints, he created quite interesting prints depicting the new port city of Yokohama and Tokyo with their Western buildings, steam locomotives (such as the triptych Steam Train Along Tokyo’s Takanawa Coastline (Tokyo Takanawa kaigan joki kisha tetsudeo no zu 1871), and exotic foreigners. It is said that the artist referred to himself as "Meiji" Hiroshige.1 He designed many print series, three of the best known being Famous Views of Tokyo (Tokyo meisho no uchi, 1879), Famous Places in Tōkai: The Revised 53 Stations (Tōkai Meisho Kaisei 53 Eki, 1876) and Dai Nippon Bussan Zue (The Greater Japan Products, 1877).
While Hiroshige III may not have been a great artist, he was a popular artist, ranking among the top five in a 1880 list of ukiyo-e artists, Kokoku shoga mekia ichiran, along with Toyohara Kunichika (1835–1900), Ogata Gekkô (1859-1920), Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) and Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915).2
1 The World of the Meiji Print: Impressions of a New Civilization, Julia Meech-Pekarik, Weatherhill, 1986, p. 92.
2 Courage and Silence: A Study of the Life and Color Woodblock Prints of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi: 1839-1952, Roger Start Keyes, 1982, p. 51.
[The source of this information was taken directly from the Lavenberg Collection.]