Matthi Forrer

Anyone with more than a passing interest in Japanese art knows the name Jack Hillier.

Early trained in wood engraving, he did not take up art as a career, but instead worked in the insurance business. Nevertheless, his interest in books and art continued, and a purchase in 1947 of a portfolio of Japanese prints led him to the study of a field in which he became the acknowledged expert outside Japan (consulting for Sotheby's), and about which he wrote definitive works and catalogues.

This show more book is a collection of essays by others published in tribute to him on his 70th birthday. show less

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) holds an assured place in the history of world art as one of the greatest and best-loved masters of the wood-block print. This lavishly produced authoritative monograph presents an in-depth view of the life and work of Hiroshige, one of Japan’s most revered artists. Presented in a style as stunning as the prints it celebrates, this survey of Hiroshige tells the fascinating story of the last great practitioner of ukiyo-e, or "pictures of the floating world." show more Hiroshige is considered to be the tradition’s most poetic artist and his work had a marked influence on Western painting towards the end of the 19th century. Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, and James Whistler were inspired by Hiroshige’s serene depictions of the natural world. Arranged chronologically, this book illustrates through text and magnificent reproductions Hiroshige’s youth and early career; his artistic development in the genre of landscape prints; his depictions of Edo and the provinces; the flower and bird prints; and his many popular books and paintings. It discusses the historic and cultural environment in which Hiroshige flourished and the many reasons his art continues to be revered and imitated. Filled with 300 color reproductions, and featuring a clamshell box and Japanese-style binding, this volume is destined to become the definitive examination of Hiroshige’s oeuvre. [www.amazon.com]. show less