Hiroshige Scenes of Winter Holiday Card Assortment

Shrouded in snow, the winter countryside of Utagawa Hiroshige's Japan is untouched by modern life. Hiroshige, a member of the samurai class, inherited his father's official post as a teenager, though he simultaneously apprenticed as an ukiyo-e artist. He maintained this arrangement for close to two decades, only retiring his official position in the years followig the death of his artistic master. It was around this time that he began creating landscapes, the woodblock prints that would make him and his work beloved around the world.

At the time these images were first published, now more than one hundred and fifty years ago, Japan was in transition - the dates for these works straddle the years that marked the opening of Japan to the West after centuries of seclusion.Nonetheless, Hiroshige's vision of the Japanese countryside is idyllic and quiet. In these prints, not a single vessel has reached the island nation's frigid waters nor do footprints mar the snow.

The card collection contains four assorted cards: Kozuke: Snow on Mt. Haruna, Numazu; Mt. Ashigara and Mt. Fuji After Clearing Snow, Mishima, and Iki: Shisaku, all completed during the mid-19th century. There are five copies of each style plus envelopes. Inside greeting: Season's Greetings.