The Fuji from Kanaya on the Tokaido 

Katsushika Hokusai made this woodblock print, "The Fuji from Kanaya on the Tokaido" using carved wood blocks and vibrant inks. Woodblock printing is a labor-intensive process, demanding precise carving of the image into wood, inking, and careful pressing onto paper. The deep blue of the water is the first thing you might notice. Woodblock prints like this one involved an intense division of labor. Here, the printmaker would have had to think of the aesthetic considerations of design along with the economic and social circumstances of production. The image shows us porters hauling travelers and their goods across a river, as we marvel at the iconic Mount Fuji in the background. In Hokusai's image, labor is not just a means to an end but a spectacle in itself. The artist shows us the realities of travel and trade in 19th-century Japan, and asks us to appreciate the many hands and processes that shape a single artwork, collapsing distinctions between fine art and everyday life.