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Bankoku meisho zukushi no uchi: Amerika Washinton fu Title: Complete Enumeration of Scenic Places in Foreign Nations: City of Washington in America Artist: Yoshitora (fl. ca. 1850-80) 1862:2 Format: Woodblock print Medium: Ink and color on paper Dimensions: triptych: 35.2 x72 cm (13 15/16 x28 3/8 in.) Source: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution The source for many elements of Yoshitora's triptych was an illustrated book, Warabe etoki bankoku banashi (Tales of All Nations with Captions for Children), published in 1860 by Yoshitora and the journalist Kanagaki Robun (1829-1894), who wrote the inscription here. Architectural elements and figures from a number of unrelated sources are combined here; the buildings and many of the figures to the left and right are based on an illustration of the city of Agra, Indiain the November 27, 1858 issue of the Illustrated London News (see also Y0163). The artist, Yoshitora, has divided the elements of the illustration of Agra to bracket the central scene of his print. His model for many of the figures and distant buildings in the center print is probably an illustration of Boston rather than Washington. The artists of Yokohama prints were unable to read the captions of Western illustrations that provided their impressions of urban architecture. [Adapted from Ann Yonemura, Yokohama: Prints from Nineteenth-Century Japan] Visualizing Cultures image number: Y0160 Keywords: Washington, D.C., United States, Kanagaki Robun, Americans, gas ballons, Western cities, India, Illustrateds London News |
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