The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of August 17, 2022

Evening Snow at Kambara (number sixteen of the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido)

1833

Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重

(Japanese, 1797-1858)

Japan, Edo period

(1615-1868)

Color woodblock print

Sheet: 22.6 x 35.5 cm (8 7/8 x 14 in.)

The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith 1985.317

Location

not on view

Description

The coastal town of Kambara rarely experiences snowfall. Illustrating falling snow is particularly suited to woodblock prints. The snowflakes are created by carving their shapes out of the woodblock. When the surface of the block is inked and printed, the carved areas are represented by the unprinted white paper. This print may be the first by Hiroshige to depict falling snow.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Signature: Hiroshige ga Publisher: Takenouchi Magohachi (Takenouchi) Censorship Seal: kiwame

Provenance
Edith Ehrman (sale: Sotheby Parke Bernet, June 17, 1975, lot 139)
R. E. Lewis, Inc.
Exhibition history

Cleveland Museum of Art Education Deparment, 1980: Japanese Woodblock Prints: Themes and Techniques.

Cleveland Museum of Art, 1988: A Private World: Japanese and Chinese Art from the Kelvin Smith Collection.

Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; December 12, 2004- April 10, 2005. "Visions of Japan: Prints and Paintings from Cleveland Collections".

A Private World: Japanese and Chinese Art from the Kelvin Smith Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 14-November 13, 1988).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.317