Grand Hotel, Yokohama c. 1890

Curator: This is Kusakabe Kimbei’s "Grand Hotel, Yokohama," a hand-colored albumen print, though the exact date is unknown. Look at that building, what is your first thought? Editor: It’s imposing, a statement of colonial power rendered in delicate hues. There's an evident tension between the opulence of the architecture and the labor implied by the rickshaws. Curator: Precisely. The Grand Hotel was a symbol of Western influence in Japan during the Meiji era. It catered to wealthy foreigners and served as a key site of cultural exchange and, indeed, cultural dominance. Editor: And the hand-coloring process itself is so fascinating. It speaks to a meeting of technologies and skills, of photographic chemistry meeting traditional painting practices. The manual labor involved adds another layer to its meaning. Curator: Absolutely. Consider, too, the role of photography in shaping perceptions of Japan at the time, especially through works like these that often romanticized or exoticized the East for Western audiences. Editor: It's interesting to consider the consumption of this image as well – the market for such prints, the narratives they perpetuated and how those narratives impacted Japanese society. Curator: Reflecting on this image, it's crucial to confront how spaces like the Grand Hotel and representations like this photograph became integral to an uneven global power dynamic. Editor: Indeed, investigating the image's materiality and considering its social and historical use gives us insight into this complex moment of exchange and imposition.