Five Pines on Konagi River

Medium:: Woodblock print
Format:: Oban
Source:: Art Gallery of Greater Victoria

Typical Price

Later reprint (Meiji–Taisho era publishers): $50–$400
Good later impression (Edo-period, worn blocks): $1,500–$8,000
Good early impression (fine bokashi, vivid color): $8,000–$30,000
Fine early impression (exceptional atmospheric quality): $30,000–$80,000

Hiroshige transformed Japanese landscape printing through his mastery of bokashi (gradated wash) technique and sensitivity to weather, season, and light. His atmospheric landscapes directly influenced Impressionist painters in Europe after Japanese prints reached the West in the 1860s.

Description

Five venerable pine trees stand along the banks of the Konagi River in this Edo landscape view. The ancient pines were a recognized landmark and a subject of poetry — their aged forms reflected in the slow river current. Hiroshige's treatment emphasizes the gnarled dignity of the trees, their trunks weathered and their branches reaching horizontally over the water in the characteristic manner of coastal pines.