Inside message: Season’s Greetings
Twenty assorted 5 x 7 in. holiday cards (5 each of 4 designs) with envelopes in a decorative box
Printed on recycled paper
Shrouded in snow, the winter countryside of Utagawa Hiroshige’s Japan is untouched by modern life.
Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797–1858), a member of the samurai class, inherited his father’s official post as a teenager, though he simultaneously apprenticed as an ukiyo-e artist. He maintained this arrangement for close to two decades, only retiring his official position in the years following the death of his artistic master. It was around this time that he began creating landscapes, the woodblock prints that would make him and his work beloved around the world.
At the time these images were first published, now more than one hundred fifty years ago, Japan was in transition—the dates for these works straddle the years that marked the opening of Japan to the West after centuries of seclusion. The prints showcased in this holiday card assortment present Hiroshige’s vision of the idyllic, tranquil Japanese countryside.
Contains five each of the following holiday cards:
Mountains and Rivers on the Kiso Road, 1857
Snow at Akabane Bridge in Shiba, c. 1843–1847.
Snow at Benzaiten Shrine in Inokashira Pond, c. 1844–1845
Yabu Street at the foot of Atago Hill , 1857