NEW YORK, NY.- Over the course of half a century, the American businessman Alan Medaugh has assembled one of the largest and greatest collections of woodblock prints by the master of the medium, Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858). Now, this group of more than 600 sheets, many of the absolute greatest rarity, quality, and state of preservation focusing on the earliest impressions, showing the most vibrant color. comes to auction at Christie's Rockefeller Center 15 September 2026; on view 11-14 September. Hiroshige: Colors of the Four Seasons, the Alan Medaugh Collection, is the first of what promises to be a three-sale series. This first sale will include more than 180 prints that span the artist's career and demonstrate the remarkable breadth of his artistic achievement.

The importance of Hiroshige

Already in his lifetime, Hiroshige was thought to be one of the greatest printmakers ever in his native Japan, a master of Ukiyo-e printmaking. Hiroshige was and is especially famous for his compositions, atypical points of view, and above all, his rich and striking use of color. His prints helped usher in one of the greatest eras of Japanese printmaking and they changed Western art as well. Hiroshige's works were hugely influential on 19th century European art. For example, the influence of Hiroshige's masterpiece series, One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, can be seen in the work of impressionist painters such as Claude Monet and James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Vincent van Gogh made detailed copies of Hiroshige prints that can be seen in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.





The brilliance of the Medaugh Collection

This is a collection of stunning comprehensiveness. It includes Hiroshige's most famous images, and also the very early and lesser-known works by the artist. This is a collection that tells the full story of Hiroshige's oeuvre from start to finish and does so with examples in vibrant condition. Japanese woodblock prints are multiples, so collectors focus on acquiring images in their best examples. This is all the more crucial, because the woodblocks the prints are created with deteriorate rapidly as impressions are struck. That is why collectors prize the earliest impressions, which are sharper and sometimes contain details not found in later impressions. Condition is also of paramount importance. Sunlight fades the colors on prints. Mr. Medaugh assembled his collection with unparalleled attention to finding the earliest, most detailed impressions, in the very best condition with the richest color. In the case of Hiroshige's famous Views of Edo series there was an early deluxe edition, printed with even more color than typical. Mr. Medaugh focused on collecting examples from that deluxe edition.

Sale highlights

One of the lead lots of the sale, Ohashi Atake no yudachi (Ohashi bridge, sudden shower at Atake) is a perfect example of what makes the Medaugh collection special. The image with rain falling across the page is iconic. The condition in full, unfaded color, is pristine. The impression is an early one, with the two boats beside the far shore still visible. (These boats disappear in later impressions as the woodblock deteriorated.) Another important lot in the sale, Kameido ume yashiki (Plum estate, Kameido) is also a rich, colorful, early impression from the deluxe edition of the Views of Edo. Other sheets in rare condition include Awa, Naruto no fuha (Wind and waves at Naruto, Awa Province) and Wild Geese Flying across Full Moon.