Depicting the ‘Gaze,’ Not the Landscape: Report on Utagawa Hiroshige’s Final Challenge—‘One Hundred Famous Views of Edo’ (Ota Memorial Museum)
The Ota Memorial Museum’s exhibition presents all 120 prints of Hiroshige’s ‘One Hundred Famous Views of Edo’ for the first time in eight years, highlighting his experimental, gaze-centered approach to urban representation.Summary
The exhibition ‘Utagawa Hiroshige’s Final Challenge—One Hundred Famous Views of Edo’ at the Ota Memorial Museum (running until June 14, 2024) reunites all 120 prints of Hiroshige’s iconic ukiyo-e series for the first time in eight years. Created in the final three years of his life—starting when he was in his early sixties—the series is revealed not as a serene, mature masterwork but as a relentless, almost obsessive pursuit of new visual expression. Far from a conventional guide to Edo’s landmarks, the works challenge conventional composition: bridges are abruptly cut off, massive boatmen’s arms dominate the frame, a cat peers out from beside a window, and horse bodies occupy half the picture plane. These deliberate disruptions reflect Hiroshige’s central question: ‘How should the city be framed?’—a visual investigation akin to the gaze of a photographer. The exhibition positions the series as a testament to Hiroshige’s experimental spirit right up to his death, emphasizing his innovative, subjective framing of urban life over idealized scenery.
(Source：Tokyo Art Beat)