The Christian Science Monitor
The touch, sensibility, and imagination of the artist are communicated instantly through the extraordinarily faithful reproductions.

Book Description
An exquisite presentation of unique sketchbooks by the great Japanese master Hiroshige Ando (1797-1858). While Hiroshige's splendid woodblock prints, in particular his Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido Road, are among the most widely reproduced and best-loved prints in Japanese history, his sketches have rarely been circulated or seen. The sketchbooks date from around 1840 and were created as Hiroshige traveled around Japan. They contain subject matter that ranges from serene landscape and rural scenes to delightful renderings of interiors, historical figures, and animals. The colors are fresh, the renderings fluid, and the use of space astonishing, allowing a sort of fantasy not always possible in the harder lines of woodblock printing. Most importantly, these drawings are of enormous charm to the eye; even those unacquainted with Japanese art will find them an enchanting example of Japanese color, design and subject matter. This one-volume edition has been printed in Japan to ensure the highest quality in reproducing the nuances of Hiroshige's masterpieces, which are reproduced to size and in their original order. 100 pages of color illustrations, 50 black-and-white illustrations.

About the Author
Sherman E. Lee is a leading scholar of Far Eastern Art. Director of the Cleveland Museum of Art for twenty-five years, he is currently a consultant to the Asia Society Galleries. He is the author of Past, Present, East and West (Braziller, 1983), A History of Far Eastern Art, and Japanese Decorative Style.

ANNOTATION

Two sketchbooks showing serene Japanese landscapes, rural scenes, renderings of interiors, historical figures and animals.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

These delightful pencil, ink, and water-color drawings by the great Japanese master Hiroshige Ando (1797-1858) were made when he was at the height of his talent and popularity. Rarely circulated or seen, the drawings, which appear in two sketchbooks, range from everyday scenes of a worker in a rice field stopping to smoke or fishing boats at work, to episodes of classic Japanese folklore and fantasy. The colors are fresh, the renderings fluid, and the use of space astonishing. With just a few brushstrokes, Hiroshige creates scenes of enduring elegance. As Daniel Boorstin states in his foreword, "No study of art history or chronology is needed to enjoy the shock and revelation of the blank page transformed." Even those unacquainted with Japanese art will be enchanted by their delicate beauty.

Hiroshige executed these drawings around 1840 while traveling in Japan; they are now in the Crosby Stuart Noyes Collection in the Library of Congress. This one-volume edition has been printed in Japan to ensure the utmost care in reproducing the subtle nuances of Hiroshige's masterpieces, which are reproduced to size and in their original sequence.

FROM THE CRITICS

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