Drie dansende vrouwen in een interieur before 1892

Editor: This photogravure print, entitled "Three Dancing Women in an Interior," is by Kazumasa Ogawa, dating from before 1892. The figures are graceful, but something about the grayness and the setting feels staged, perhaps even commercial. What do you see in this piece, beyond its obvious subject matter? Curator: Let's consider the materials. It’s a photogravure – a printmaking process using photographic negatives etched into a copper plate. The paper stock, the inks… each choice reflects the artist’s intention, but also the economic conditions of production and reception. Note the delicate lines, the soft tonal range achieved through layers of ink. This speaks to a culture valuing refined craftsmanship. Editor: So you're focusing on the “making” of the work and what that means socially? Curator: Exactly! It is also important to consider its categorization of "Japonisme". Beyond aesthetics, how does the work engage in dialogues around cultural exchange? Did Ogawa create this work to promote a product? To invite a commercial relationship between two disparate social contexts, Europe and Japan? Editor: That’s a completely different perspective than how I initially saw it – it’s not just three women dancing! It’s about labour, and commerce and cultural exchange made visible through materials and process. Curator: Precisely. What this also raises is a complex question about whether Ogawa’s image belongs to fine art or craft, which for me hinges on how we interpret its mode of creation, labor, materiality and even its possible consumption! Hopefully this allows a wider appreciation of the image, its position and indeed its intention.