Popular Designs of Combs and Tobacco Pipes (Imayō kushi kiseru hinagata) 

Editor: Here we have Katsushika Hokusai's "Popular Designs of Combs and Tobacco Pipes" from the Harvard Art Museums. These delicate line drawings look like pages from a design catalog. What's your take on their purpose? Curator: Well, these designs reveal quite a bit about Edo-period aesthetics and social hierarchies. Combs and pipes were more than functional; they were fashion statements reflecting status and taste. These pattern books helped disseminate style trends. What do you think that says about the role of the artist? Editor: Interesting! So, Hokusai wasn't just creating art, he was shaping consumer culture? Curator: Exactly! He was influencing the visual vocabulary of everyday life and how people presented themselves, which suggests the politics of imagery went beyond the elite circles. Editor: That makes me see Hokusai in a whole new light. Thanks! Curator: My pleasure. It's fascinating how art intertwines with the fabric of daily existence.