Een geïllustreerde handleiding voor planten 1849 - 1854

This is the cover of “An Illustrated Guide to Plants,” made by Utagawa Hiroshige in Japan in the mid-19th century. These kinds of illustrated books, or Ehon, were quite popular at the time, providing visual guides to all manner of subjects from natural history to fashion. The Edo period in which Hiroshige worked was one of relative peace and prosperity, with a flourishing urban culture. This boom in cultural production went hand in hand with a newly emergent merchant class. Printed books allowed a wider audience to engage with artistic and intellectual pursuits. Woodblock printing allowed for the mass production of images and texts. How were these books sold and distributed? Who had access to them? And what does it mean that knowledge of botany came to be packaged as an aesthetic experience? These are just some of the questions we might ask to better understand the social and cultural role of art. By looking at archival sources and historical documents, we can unpack the complex relationship between art, commerce, and knowledge.