Distant View of Mount Fujiyama, Japan, and Wistaria 1876

Editor: This is "Distant View of Mount Fujiyama, Japan, and Wistaria," painted in 1876 by Marianne North using watercolor. I'm really drawn to how delicate the wisteria is, especially juxtaposed with the mountain in the background. It's interesting that it was created en plein-air. How do you approach this piece? Curator: What's fascinating to me is to consider North's access to these materials and this location in 1876. Watercolour production and trade routes at the time would have impacted the very colours she was able to render in this image. Do you think the idea of "plein-air" gives this piece authority, signaling her presence on location, directly engaging with a site, and also its resources? Editor: Absolutely. The act of creating a painting like this in front of the subject is far from a neutral, documentary record. It's work, influenced by available resources and the social conventions around travel and art production. Considering Japonisme, could she have easily replicated it from afar? Curator: That's right! Consider the social implications and class status required to make that kind of journey. How does her engagement with Japonisme – which itself depended on international trade – influence the labour inherent in its creation? Is it a genuine appreciation, or does the "exotic" subject matter simply reinforce colonial power structures? Editor: That's a perspective I hadn't fully considered before. Thinking about the production, labour, and resources needed, it really opens up questions about cultural exchange. It feels less like a simple landscape and more like a document of its time. Curator: Precisely. By exploring its means of production and reception, we’ve shed light on the complex networks of labour, material, and power that shaped this serene view.