Utagawa Hiroshige III

Hiroshige III, born Gotō Torakichi in Edo (present-day Tokyo), was an ukiyo-e artist of the Utagawa school active during the second half of the nineteenth century. The son of a shipbuilder from the Fukagawa district, he began studying as a teenager under the celebrated Utagawa Hiroshige I and, following his master`s death in 1858, continued his artistic training under Hiroshige II. His early art name was Shigemasa.
After the dissolution of the marriage between Hiroshige II and Ōtatsu, the daughter of Hiroshige I, Gotō married Ōtatsu in 1867. He initially used the name Hiroshige II before adopting the name Hiroshige III in 1869, becoming the third artist to carry the prestigious Hiroshige lineage. Throughout his career he also used several other art names, including Isshosai, Shigemasa, and Shigetora.
Hiroshige III specialized in landscapes and views of famous places, particularly in Tokyo. While his artistic style remained strongly rooted in the tradition established by his predecessors, his works reflect the profound social and cultural changes of the Meiji period. Unlike the largely Edo-period landscapes of Hiroshige I and II, his prints frequently depict the modernization and Westernization of Japan, including railways, brick buildings, foreign settlements, modern institutions, and new urban infrastructure.
In addition to his meisho-e (pictures of famous places), Hiroshige III became particularly known for his kaika-e (enlightenment prints), which documented Japan`s rapid transformation into a modern nation. Today, his works are valued not only for their artistic qualities but also as important visual records of the dramatic changes that reshaped Japanese society during the Meiji era.
Questa versione è più vicina allo stile che abbiamo adottato per Hiroshige I, Hiroshige II e gli altri artisti del tuo catalogo: meno giudicante, più contestualizzata storicamente e maggiormente allineata alle fonti museali e accademiche.