Utagara HiroshigeUtagawa Hiroshige is recognized as a master of the ukiyo-e woodblock printing tradition, having created 8,000 prints of everyday life and landscape in Edo-period Japan with a splendid, saturated ambience. Hiroshige's prolific output was somewht due to his being paid very little, requiring him to complete an astounding number of works. He receded to Buddhist monkhood in 1856 to complete his brilliant and lasting One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (1856-58). He died in 1858, 10 years before Monet, Van Gogh, Whistler, and a host of Impressionist painters became eager collectors of Japanese art. And so Hiroshige's surging bokashi, or varied gradient printing, lives on--visibly influencing artists to this day. Read More Read Less