Karuizawa: Travellers by a Bonfire at Night
c. 1835–38 · Woodblock print; ink and colour on paper · The Art Institute of Chicago
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This print
About this work
- Artist
- Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858)
- Year
- c. 1835–38
- Medium
- Woodblock print; ink and colour on paper
- Original size
- 25.3 × 36.2 cm
- Collection
- The Art Institute of Chicago (impression 1932.210; many other impressions exist)
- Movement
- Ukiyo-e
- Series
- Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō
At night on a dark plain, a traveller in a blue patterned cape sits on a packhorse and lights his pipe from the groom's. In front, a man in a wide white hat bends to light his own pipe at a bonfire under a tall tree, its pale smoke rising in a column, and a second fire smoulders far off across the fields below grey mountains. This is print nineteen of The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō, published by Hōeidō and later Kinjudō, c. 1835–38. Keisai Eisen began the series and Utagawa Hiroshige, who designed this sheet, completed it. Karuizawa was the eighteenth station on the Nakasendō, the inland road from Edo to Kyoto; the English title is descriptive, and impressions vary in colour and condition.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
Night greys and dark green lit by orange firelight and a blue cape, for a study, living room or home office at 24×16 in black. It pairs with Mochizuki: Pines in the Moonlight for two night scenes on the Kisokaidō.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Ukiyo-e painting
- Era
- 19th century (c. 1835–38)
- Orientation
- Landscape
- Palette
- cornflower blue
- Mood
- calm
- Rooms
- living room, study or library, home office, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, travelers, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 24×16. Prints at 18×12, 24×16 in — 18×12 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 24×16 above a console or sideboard.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — natural wood flatters the lighter palette; black sharpens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Karuizawa: Travellers by a Bonfire at Night in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Karuizawa: Travellers by a Bonfire at Night painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
