Kobayashi Kiyochika
1879
Donated by the Homma family
In the foreground of the image we see pine branches and gas lights, as well as the silhouettes of people and buildings, while to the right we have Nihonbashi, with a vivid image of Mount Fuji just before dusk in the center.
Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915) is one of the famous ukiyo-e artists of the Meiji period, alongside Tsukioka Yoshitoshi and Toyohara Kunichika, and it’s also said that he learned western painting from the Englishman Charles Wirgman. He became well-known following the release of the scenery painting series “Famous Places of Tokyo”, featuring the spatial balance of light and shadow found in western painting, which was known as “Kōsen-ga” (light beam paintings), and also created bird-and-flower paintings, still lives, historical scenes, and caricatures.