Hiroshige (July)

Utagawa Hiroshige’s love of familiar places seen from unfamiliar angles is on show in ‘36 Views of West Gate Bridge’. He catches people in unposed, natural moments. In ‘July Downpour’ walkers and dogs are suddenly caught running for cover. Hiroshige’s rain is distinctive, not quite parallel lines fall top to bottom across the page. Yet the torrent never obscures colourful detail. Tall pink-and-white eucalypts gleam with wetness. Incongruous footpath signs and abandoned playgrounds turn into shadowy other selves. West Gate itself is a few perfect lines from the ukiyo-e brush, over in the far distance, upper left-side of the print.