Courtesan and Riddle 1830

Curator: My eye goes straight to her face – there’s such an openness, almost a question there. The angle of her head, the hint of a smile… What's your first impression? Editor: "Courtesan and Riddle," made by Keisai Eisen around 1830. It’s a woodblock print, a watercolor illustration really, from the Ukiyo-e tradition. These prints, mass-produced and widely circulated, give us unique glimpses into Japanese society, its ideals, and especially its entertainment culture. Immediately, I am drawn in by the subject's beauty, a kind of elegant stillness amidst so much complex patterning. Curator: Pattern is the perfect word – there’s so much detail fighting for your attention, and yet it’s undeniably harmonious. But who was Eisen really making this for, I wonder? This interplay, almost tension between high art and what might have seemed 'low' subject matter is fascinating to me. Editor: Definitely, the demand was huge. These prints weren’t necessarily “high art,” and in fact that distinction barely existed as we think of it, but this reflects that demand among the merchant classes for depictions of the Yoshiwara district's stars, the height of Edo-period fashion and artifice. We shouldn’t ignore the consumerist aspects to the whole Ukiyo-e project! She and her art becomes this desired thing. Curator: And it makes me consider ideas of womanhood that this society values - this whole aesthetic project she performs! Editor: Exactly! You know, the interesting thing, I think, is that on one hand it depicts her almost commodification, but this image also suggests a kind of agency in participating in it – the detail, pose and confidence hints there is a more complex story going on that challenges assumptions, I'd wager, even then. Curator: It makes you wonder about that riddle alluded to in the title, doesn't it? It also challenges ideas around portraits; what it can do, and the questions of representation that come up with them. Editor: Precisely. And if you examine Eisen’s later work, much of which centered on beautiful women, you'll see an evolution in how that agency plays out. This is still an early exploration of it. It’s fascinating how mass-produced prints can encapsulate entire cultural moments. Curator: Beautifully said, almost like glimpses of memory in the cultural landscape, or a kind of collective imagining. What a fascinating image to mull over, indeed!