Print 1786 - 1854

Editor: Here we have "Print" by Utagawa Kunisada, dating sometime between 1786 and 1854. It's a woodblock print, currently residing at The Met. I’m really struck by how vibrant and detailed the robes are; they almost pop off the green background. What do you see when you look at this work? Curator: Ah, Kunisada, always a master of theatrical flourish! Beyond the vividness you mentioned – and isn't it something how these colours have endured? – I'm captivated by the layering of realities. The figures feel pulled from a Kabuki drama, placed almost playfully against a garden backdrop that is, itself, highly stylized. What do you make of the blank expressions of the figures? Does it seem at odds with the intensity of their garments? Editor: It's a fascinating tension, that disconnect between their faces and everything else going on. Maybe it’s like they're supposed to be types, rather than individuals? Curator: Exactly! Ukiyo-e prints were often about capturing archetypes and cultural ideals, the ‘floating world’ of pleasure and performance. These figures are less portraits and more emblems – signs to be read and admired. It makes you wonder, doesn't it, about the stories these prints told to their original audience? Think of them as advertisements or even magazine covers for that era, whispers from a world we can only glimpse now. Did you pick up on the maple leaves scattered about? It seems we are walking with our subjects through a transitional period as nature begins to turn, echoing, perhaps, their inner reflections on the stage. Editor: So much to unpack! I definitely see the figures as players on a larger stage, and it’s helping me understand the broader tradition of ukiyo-e. Thanks for your insight. Curator: My pleasure! The best art always invites conversation, a dance between the seen and the unseen. And that, I believe, is something Kunisada certainly achieved, in spades.