Dutch Couple 1862

Curator: This striking woodblock print, created in 1862 by Utagawa Yoshikazu, is titled "Dutch Couple." The work offers a fascinating glimpse into how Westerners were perceived through the lens of Ukiyo-e. What are your initial thoughts? Editor: There's a playful quality to the figures. The man looks rather stiff, and her voluminous skirt is arresting, really emphasizing shape and form as much as depicting clothing. Curator: Absolutely. Notice how the artist utilizes flat planes of color to define the subjects, characteristic of the woodblock printing technique. This simplification forces us to consider the relationships between these shapes and how they construct the narrative. I'm thinking particularly about the patterns, from the wavy horizontal planes forming a watery or dreamlike backdrop to the stippling within each saturated hue, giving texture and life. Editor: The materiality definitely commands attention. Considering this is a print, I'm interested in the labor involved in its production. Think of the carving of the blocks for each color layer, the precision needed. There's a collision of craft and caricature, suggesting mass-produced observations consumed as social commentary. The artist also renders very thin, delicate linework on the clothes. Do these visual and material signifiers give us some commentary of their perceived value in Japan at the time? Curator: A sharp observation! The flattening of perspective emphasizes a perceived artifice and otherness that would be immediately consumed by a Japanese audience accustomed to portraits of otherness. The repetition in pattern also underscores this, highlighting aspects considered strange or "exotic" to then Japanese onlookers. Editor: It prompts one to question how the printing method itself may be adding to the caricaturization. Mass production, flat color—are these commenting on accessibility, almost making a commodity out of this "Dutch Couple," like something one might buy as an immediate souvenir? The way those shapes come together feels performative, artificial, immediate. Curator: Precisely, in both a literal and figurative sense! By understanding its formal structure and composition, and especially the visual repetitions, we are guided to consider this “Dutch Couple” within a matrix of viewing. Editor: It underscores the value of dissecting not just what is represented but how that representation comes into being through the very methods employed. Thanks for unpacking it!