French Girl Walking a Dog Accompanied by a Siamese Servant 1860

Utagawa Sadahide created this woodblock print, "French Girl Walking a Dog Accompanied by a Siamese Servant," offering us a glimpse into 19th-century Japanese perceptions of the West. Japan, newly opened to foreign influence, viewed the West through a lens of curiosity and, at times, exoticism. This print encapsulates complex themes of identity and cross-cultural interaction. We see a Western woman and a man identified as Siamese, presumably in service to her. How might their identities and roles be perceived, both by themselves and by the Japanese viewer? The print invites us to reflect on the power dynamics inherent in such encounters, and the nuanced ways in which identity is performed and interpreted across cultures. What does it mean to see oneself, or to be seen, through the eyes of another culture?