Plum Garden at Kameido (Kameido Ume yashiki), from the series One Hundred Views of Famous Places in Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)

1857

Japanese, 1797-1858

The Plum Garden at Kameido, one of the Hundred Views of Famous Places in Edo, transcends boundaries, cultures, and time. This iconic site is perhaps best known from the viewpoint of the branches of a blossoming plum tree as framed by renowned woodblock print artist, Utagawa Hiroshige.

This site was further celebrated as the influx of Edo-era woodblock prints caught the fancy of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists of the late 19th century. This print in particular inspired Vincent van Gogh so deeply that he copied it in oils, adding his own flourishes with an interpretation of Japanese characters as a border.

Woodblock print; ink and color on paper

Sheet: 14 1/8 x 9 5/8 in. (35.9 x 24.4 cm)

Gift of Mary and Allan Kollar, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum

2017.23.22

Provenance: [Egenolf Gallery, Burbank, California]; purchased from gallery by Allan Kollar, Seattle, Washington, 2005; to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2017

Photo: Susan Cole

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, SAM at 75: Building a Collection for Seattle, May 5 - Sept. 9, 2007.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Fleeting Beauty: Japanese Woodblock Prints, Apr. 1 - July 4, 2010. Text by Catherine Roche. Cat. no. 58, reproduced p. 81.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Legends, Tales, Poetry: Visual Narrative in Japanese Art, Dec. 22, 2012 - July 21, 2013.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

Learn more about Equity at SAM