Hiroshige: The Head & The Load

The quality of the book is really good... No stains or tears... Worth the price... The book in terms of its content is also beautiful

High quality print

This 95-page medium size book presents a substantial overview of the works of Hiroshige as well as the essential elements of his professional and personal life. His influence on Western artists such as Van Gogh and Whistler is briefly discussed in the last chapter. The text is complemented by high quality illustrations, printed on matte paper, no doubt in the spirit of the artist’s original works. Sadly, the pleasure of reading the book is a bit marred by the all too frequent repetitions, that are not limited to the information provided in the main text and that in the captions. Also, though the book concludes with a three-page synthesis of Hiroshige’s life, there is neither an index nor a bibliography. Still, this Taschen book provides excellent value for the price charged and is recommended to all interested in Japan’s unique culture.

Muy buen libro, muy recomendable

英語のみです。何冊か読んだ広重の入門書の中において個人的には群を抜いてNo.1の一冊でした。ジャポニズムのチャプターがもっとも興味深かったです。ロンドンを中心とする産業革命、パリ万博以後欧州に流入したジャポニスム。ゴッホをはじめとする印象派が浮世絵から受けた影響が詳細かつ淡々とした（英語だったからかも…）データにより解説されており、却ってその衝撃の強さが想像されました。美術史への興味を掻き立てるすばらしい良書です。

I bought it new when the price dropped to $7.09 from amazon.com with prime shipping. I have another very nice Hiroshige book Hiroshige: Prints and Drawings that includes some very nice prints and a good bio, but I figured why not? And boy was I surprised. This book contains around 95 pages, and though most of the prints are not large, there are a lot of them. Several of the prints are thumbnail sized, others are half page to nearly full page. But this is not truly a 'picture book'. Where this version excels is in the writing. The author does a great job of highlighting the life and work of Hiroshige AND other Ukiyo-E artists of the era. It's truly the comparisons that make this work shine. We are shown, in a later chapter, influences he made on other artists, such as Manet and Van Gogh. These comparisons are not stating "these guys copied Hiroshige" but instead point out some artistic similarities, some resulting in artists like Manet being called 'Japonistic' or the flatter, more 2-d style being labeled 'Japonism'. There are still a good number of his prints in this book, and several from prominent museums that do not appear in other collections. The vast majority of the prints highlighted show people doing something. Which is different than the Prestel book which shows a lot of landscapes or far away images of Edo where you don't really get up close and personal with the people in some of these prints. There are also a number of prints with birds and fish. Again, most are not large, but there is a nice selection included. I would say this is a good book to start with if you are interested in Ukiyo-e. If you are a fan of Hiroshige, then you will surely enjoy it as an addition to your Ukiyo-e library. This is a real treat and a great value.