Matsushima
Ando Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797–1858)
Matsushima, 1856
Color woodblock
Gift of Margery Hoffman Smith, Class of 1911
S.42.FA
Matsushima consists of some 260 tiny, pine-studded islands in the Miyagi Prefecture of Japan. Long considered one of Japan’s most beautiful sites, the famously picturesque barrier islands have been depicted by artists and described by poets for centuries, including the ukiyo-e master Andō Hiroshige as seen here. Dana Fritz joins in this tradition in her photograph Matsushima I (2016). Like them, she takes liberties with the creative arrangement of the bay’s natural elements into varied landscapes. The shared subject matter not only recommends the inclusion of this Hiroshige print in the current exhibition, but also suggests the potential usefulness of having Fritz’s photograph as part of the College’s collection.
