-
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Image courtesy of
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
Description
A characteristic Meiji-period urban landscape by Kiyochika, this oban-format print likely records a specific Tokyo district undergoing rapid transformation in the 1870s or 1880s. Kiyochika frequently depicted bridges, riverbanks, and newly constructed Western-style buildings alongside older Edo structures, using the juxtaposition to comment visually on cultural change. His compositional approach drew on both Hiroshige's meisho-e tradition and Western perspective conventions learned through oil painting study. Atmospheric effects — fog, smoke from steamships, haze over the Sumida River — appear as diffused tonal transitions rather than sharp outlines, a hallmark of his printmaking technique.