Tekka en Gama 1826

This image, "Tekka en Gama," was made in Japan by Nakamura Hōchū, who died in 1819. It's a woodblock print, and a rather informal one at that. The quality of the line is variable. We can assume that the production was fairly quick, perhaps intended for a popular audience. We see two figures in the scene: a man with a frog on his head, and another bent over, seemingly conjuring smoke. The making process would have involved carving the image into a wood block, applying ink, and then pressing paper onto it. The inherent qualities of wood as a material allow for relatively crisp lines, but also demand a certain amount of labor and skill. The figures are drawn with a minimum of fuss, as if speed and low cost were of the essence. This connects the artwork to wider social issues of production and consumption. The lack of refinement encourages us to reflect on labor, politics, and consumption, because, in a very direct way, this print encapsulates them. It reminds us that art is not just about aesthetics, but also about the material conditions in which it is made.