Hatsune no Baba at Bakurochō
These ukiyo-e woodblock prints designed by Utagawa Hiroshige capture iconic sites. The cityscapes of Edo (present-day Tokyo), such as the Ōhashi (Big Bridge) and the lumberyard by a canal, functioned similarly to postcards, introducing the highlights of the area.
As the tourism industry grew in the 1700s, the demand for views of scenic sites increased. Hiroshige was one of the most famed ukiyo-e artists during this period, and he designed one-hundred and twenty images for the series One Hundred Views of Edo.
Howard Mansfield (1849-1938), Seal Harbor, ME, by April 4, 1932 [1];
Purchased from Mansfield, through Langdon Warner, by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1932.
NOTES:
[1] Letter from Howard Mansfield to Langdon Warner, April 4, 1932, Harvard University Pusey Library, Langdon Warner Personal Archive, HUG 4872.1010, box 12, folder 14, copy in Nelson-Atkins curatorial files. Howard Mansfield was a lawyer who collected Asian art and the prints of James Whistler. According to the Archives Directory for the History of Collecting, Frick Art Reference Library, he was a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and served as its first acting curator of Asian art prior to the appointment of the Met's first staff curator.
