NEW YORK — Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) is a celebrated Japanese artist whose reputation was hard-earned in his lifetime. Born in Edo, Japan as Tokutaro Ando, as a teenager he tried to study in the studio of the esteemed artist Toyokuni Utagawa, but was not accepted. He instead apprenticed with Toyohiro Utagawa in 1811 and was awarded his artist name, Hiroshige, in 1811. At this time, he was working at the local fire department, but quit to focus on his art. He pursued painting with a passion, but his talents went mostly unrecognized until he created a pioneering series of woodblock prints in 1832.