Visit to a peony garden 

This woodblock print, Visit to a Peony Garden, was made by Utagawa Kunisada in Japan. Ukiyo-e prints like this one were made by carving separate blocks for each color, then pressing them onto paper. Look closely, and you will see that even the most elaborate textiles depicted here are in fact just made with lines. This commercial printmaking process relied on highly skilled artisans and craftspeople to create these incredibly detailed prints. The carvers and printers had to perfectly align each block to build up the image. The result is striking—from the lavish robes to the perfectly rendered peonies, we see the skill of the artisans, as well as the demand for these colorful scenes of fashionable life. Remember that prints like this were not just artworks, but commodities, connecting art directly to labor and consumption. They challenge our notions about what counts as art and how it is made.