Three women making music c. 1794

Torii Kiyonaga created this colorful woodblock print of three women making music in Japan sometime between 1775 and 1815. Woodblock prints like this one involved a division of labor between the artist, who designed the image, the block carver, who translated the design into a series of woodblocks, and the printer, who applied ink to the blocks and transferred the image to paper. Each color required a separate block, demanding precision. The beauty of the print lies not only in Kiyonaga's design but also in the skilled craftsmanship of the carvers and printers. The success of Japanese prints depended on this collaboration. It’s a system that mirrors the era’s larger economic structures, where specialized skills and coordinated production were essential. This print tradition, at once aesthetic and social, challenges our traditional notions of fine art.