Two Women Admiring the Sights from a Vantage Point Overlooking the Zenpukuji Temple
19th century
Medium
Preparatory drawing; ink on paper
Dimensions
Image: 9 1/2 x 12 in. (24.1 x 30.5 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of William S. Lieberman, 2005
Accession Number
2007.49.288
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the bustling Edo period (1615–1868), when Japan’s urban culture flourished under strict social hierarchies, Utagawa (Gountei) Sadahide captured everyday moments with masterful precision. This preparatory drawing in ink on paper, titled *Two Women Admiring the Sights from a Vantage Point Overlooking the Zenpukuji Temple*, showcases Sadahide’s skill as a prominent ukiyo-e artist from the Utagawa school. Known for his detailed landscapes and genre scenes, Sadahide often sketched preliminary designs like this one—measuring 9½ x 12 inches—before they were refined into vibrant woodblock prints, offering a rare glimpse into the artist’s creative process. The composition highlights two women poised gracefully on a hilltop, gazing out over the serene rooftops of Zenpukuji Temple in Tokyo’s Setagaya district. Delicate ink lines convey depth and atmosphere, blending intimate human figures with expansive landscape views—a hallmark of ukiyo-e’s “pictures of the floating world,” which celebrated transient beauty amid urban life. These sketches were essential tools in the collaborative printmaking workshops, where artists like Sadahide laid the groundwork for mass-produced art accessible to commoners. This intimate work, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Asian Art collection (Bequest of William S. Lieberman, 2005), reflects Edo Japan’s fascination with scenic outings and temple vistas, inviting visitors to ponder the women’s quiet wonder at their familiar yet timeless surroundings.
About the Artist
Utagawa (Gountei) Sadahide · 1807–1873
Utagawa Sadahide was born Hashimoto Kenjirō in 1807 in Fusa Province, in the area of modern Chiba Prefecture, Japan. In the 1820s he entered the studio of the enormously prolific and influential master Utagawa Kunisada, becoming one of Kunisada's most prominent pupils and adopting the studio name Sadahide along with the Utagawa school's celebrated lineage. By 1828 his name appeared on a monument l...