Hiroshige

Moon Pine, Ueno

Utagawa Hiroshige was a Japanese artist who died in 1858 - but his influence has been long-lasting.

I've been in the art business on and off most of my grown up life and, at one time, before I realized that I wanted to be a writer, I wanted to an art curator. And I'm still, always, tempted by that life.

I have art cravings (kind of following on yesterday's post about addictions), mostly specific cravings. A few years ago I had a craving for Rembrandt - I scrimped and saved and spent a week in Amsterdam, the best place in the world to see Rembrandt. And every year I try and turn at least part of my traveling into a gallery hop. Last year it was New York, the year before Toronto, this year it will be Ottawa's National Gallery, every year I spend a little time in Seattle at the Seattle Art Museum.

When I'm desperate and I don't have time or money to go to a gallery, I turn to the best art site on the web - Mark Harden's Artchive http://www.artchive.com/ftp_site.htm.

This woodblock by Hiroshige - one of my very favorite artists - has been on my computer three or four times. I often go back to it for its lovely design, for its peacefulness, for its perfection of shape and color. The French impressionists were big fans of Hiroshige and Van Gogh owned several of Hiroshige's prints. Even though their paintings are different, the connection makes sense to me. Even now, French collectors buy Japanese art and vice versa.

Kate