New Year Festivities at the House of Spring Colors (Shunshoku-ya kata no kotobuki) c. 1847

Curator: At the Harvard Art Museums, we have Utagawa Kunisada's woodblock print, "New Year Festivities at the House of Spring Colors." It’s a vertical oban, a standard size for these prints. Editor: It feels intimate, like a peek into a private world. The muted colors create a sense of tranquility despite the activity. Curator: Kunisada produced this during the Edo period, when woodblock prints became quite popular among the merchant classes. These prints often reflected the fashions and lifestyles of the day. Editor: I’m struck by the gendered labor here. One figure seems to be receiving New Year’s gifts, while the other prepares. It speaks to societal expectations and divisions. Curator: Exactly. The "House of Spring Colors" suggests a connection to the pleasure quarters, reflecting the complex social hierarchy of the time. Editor: The attention to detail, the fabrics, the carefully arranged gifts...it all points to a deliberate performance of social rituals, both celebrating and reinforcing power dynamics. Curator: Seeing this image, one can reflect on the commercial forces driving artistic production, alongside the rigid structures of gender and class in Edo society. Editor: It certainly offers a nuanced perspective on the everyday lives and the underlying currents of social life of that time.