Lady with a Parasol, Hiroshige, 1815

The Figge Museum in Davenport has a large collection of wood block prints by the two most famous Japanese artists.  It is true that while the men designed the prints, it was largely left to women to craft them, but the scenes and the styles are quite magnificent.
This particular print was in the Frank Lloyd Wright display at the museum.  That is fitting, as these prints influenced lots of artists that came after them, and are in many ways timeless.
Hiroshige grew up in a minor samurai family in what was then Edo. His father belonged to the firefighting force assigned to Edo Castle. It is here that Hiroshige was given his first exposure to art: legend has it that a fellow fireman tutored him in the Kano school of painting, though Hiroshige’s first official teacher was Rinsai. Though Hiroshige tried to join Utagawa Toyokuni’s studio, he was turned away. In 1811, the young artist entered an apprenticeship with the celebrated Utagawa Toyohiro. After only a year, he was bestowed with the artist name Hiroshige. He soon gave up his role in the fire department to focus entirely on painting and print design. During this time he studied painting, intrigued by the Shijo school. Hiroshige’s artistic genius went largely unnoticed until 1832.