Kusatsu: The Crossroads
c. 1835–38 · Woodblock print; ink and colour on paper · The Art Institute of Chicago
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About this work
- Artist
- Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858)
- Year
- c. 1835–38
- Medium
- Woodblock print; ink and colour on paper
- Original size
- 24.4 × 36.5 cm
- Collection
- The Art Institute of Chicago (impression 1939.2220; many other impressions exist)
- Movement
- Ukiyo-e
- Series
- Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō
Travellers meet at a sandy crossroads: three in wide hats and travelling coats stand talking, a woman with a bundle turns toward them, and a boy with a load of brushwood walks past. In front, a small plank bridge crosses a blue stream, and behind, red and blue roofs sit between green slopes planted with young pines, below grey mountains. This is print sixty-nine 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. Kusatsu was the sixty-eighth station on the Nakasendō, the inland road from Edo to Kyoto, where it joined the Tōkaidō; impressions vary in colour and condition.
This exhibition-poster edition shows the whole work beneath original typography set in-house. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
Warm sand, soft green slopes and red and blue roofs under a deep blue sky, for a hallway, entrance or study at 16×24 in natural wood. It pairs with Hiroshige's Kusatsu: Famous Post House, the same town on the Tōkaidō, where the two roads meet.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Exhibition poster of a Ukiyo-e painting
- Era
- 19th century (c. 1835–38)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Palette
- cornflower blue, cream & beige
- Mood
- calm
- Rooms
- hallway or entryway, study or library, living room, dining room, dorm room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, travelers, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 16×24. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. Exhibition posters sit best in a slim black frame with no mat — the typeset margin is the mat.
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 Kusatsu: The Crossroads in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Kusatsu: The Crossroads painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
