Housewife 18th-19th century

This is a woodblock print, made in Japan in the late 1700s by Kitagawa Utamaro. It depicts a woman, perhaps a housewife, sewing. Look closely, and you will notice the attention paid to her kimono, the texture of the woodblock visible in the rendering of the fabric, and the sharp lines used to define her features. The process of woodblock printing is labor-intensive, each color requiring a separate block. The registration, the alignment of these blocks to create the final image, requires precision. This was a commercial process, involving the labor of designers, carvers, and printers working collaboratively. Utamaro elevates the everyday to the level of art, finding beauty in the ordinary task of needlework. Consider the amount of work involved, both in the making of the image, and in the making of the garment. Through an attentiveness to materials, process, and social context, we gain a fuller understanding of the work.