ComicBook Experience

From the exhibition

View of the Oi River from the Uphill Road

Ando Hiroshige, Japanese, 1797–1858 · 1858

View of the Oi River from the Uphill Road
This woodblock print by Andō Hiroshige depicts travelers on a mountain path overlooking the Oi River valley, with Mount Fuji visible on the distant horizon. The composition uses Hiroshige's characteristic layered perspective—foreground figures and trees frame a middle distance of cultivated fields and waterways, while the background dissolves into sky. The print exemplifies the technical mastery of Edo-period landscape art: precise linear perspective, subtle gradations of blue and pink in the sky, and careful attention to seasonal vegetation. Part of Hiroshige's late series documenting Japan's major routes, this work synthesizes Japanese artistic tradition with Western compositional principles, influencing European artists decades later.

Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com CC0