Washing Clothes 1795

Kitagawa Utamaro’s woodblock print presents a woman engaged in the task of ‘Washing Clothes’. Utamaro was a leading printmaker of the Ukiyo-e style, which flourished during the Edo period in Japan. Ukiyo-e, translating to "pictures of the floating world," captured the ephemeral pleasures of urban life. Utamaro's work often focused on bijinga, images of beautiful women, portraying them not just as objects of beauty, but as individuals with their own stories. This print offers a glimpse into the daily life of a woman, elevating a mundane task to a moment of contemplation. The woman's posture, her gaze directed away from her work, suggests a sense of introspection amidst her labor. We're invited to consider her lived experience, and the intersection of gender, class, and labor in her world. The print serves not only as an aesthetic object, but as a poignant reflection on the lives of women in 18th-century Japan.