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Utagawa Hiroshige’s Beach Scene is a fantastic depiction of the integral role water played in the everyday life of the Edo period. Hiroshige creates a sense of expansiveness in this seemingly common scene, allowing the ocean to take on as important of a role as each of the six main figures. The printer utilized texture, contrast, and layering to both highlight the main figures and also allow them to be immersed in the immensity of the ocean. He went one step further by keeping the clothing of the distant figures the same blue as the ocean. This act makes the figures feel as though they are intrinsically tied to the landscape that surrounds them. (Clear Water: Encountering Mokuhanga, 2023)Label
In September of 1968, Robert F.W. Whitcomb (a 1915 Washburn graduate) donated his extensive collection of Japanese art to the Mulvane Art Museum. A respected banker and collector of Asian art, Mr. Whitcomb's beautiful gift included this delicate color woodblock print by one of Japan's most recognized artists, Hiroshige. The color print was a popular Japanese art form from the early 1700s up until the middle of the nineteenth century.
A select group of Japanese prints from the Mulvane Collection has been touring the country and can be seen in a number of museums and universities.