Nachtelijke visvangst 1795 - 1800

Kitagawa Utamaro made this woodblock print, "Night Catch", in Japan, at the height of the Edo period. The image portrays a group of women engaged in night fishing, an activity that held a complex position in Japanese society. On the one hand, fishing was a vital industry, supporting communities and providing sustenance. On the other hand, it was also associated with the lower classes and those who lived outside the strict social hierarchy enforced by the Tokugawa shogunate. Utamaro's print reflects these tensions. He elevates the working women of Edo, lending dignity to their labor by portraying them with grace and beauty. But we can see the institutional structures reflected in the way the art was produced, and for whom: the artist was commissioned to create "pictures of the floating world", the world of courtesans and common people. So we have to consider the role that the artist played in constructing an idealised view of Japanese life for an elite audience. We need to look to the material culture and political conditions of the era to see how images like these were freighted with social meaning.