De derde maand 1861

Curator: Looking at Utagawa Kunisada’s woodblock print "De derde maand" from 1861, what strikes you first? Editor: It’s overwhelmingly melancholic. Despite the pretty colors and those delightful cherry blossoms, I get this feeling of profound stillness, like a contained sigh. Curator: Interesting! It is ukiyo-e, the “pictures of the floating world,” and Kunisada was a master of the genre, known for his depictions of women, actors, and scenes from daily life. This print, using figuration, portrays a seated woman, seemingly indoors. What can you glean from its composition? Editor: There’s an obvious class marker there. Everything from her elaborate kimono, the refined interior design, and the floral arrangements point towards luxury and a deliberate construction of beauty as a display of wealth and position. It's performative in a way. Curator: It almost feels staged, doesn't it? The way she’s holding that branch... She's clearly an element within this carefully curated setting. It's almost theatrical. Her pose seems designed to emphasize beauty and grace. Editor: Precisely! This print, while beautiful on the surface, is imbued with this sense of almost oppressive beauty. Like, whose gaze is she catering to? The windows, showing idealised nature, trap her inside; is it about social expectations binding her? Curator: Perhaps. Or it is the tension between outward presentation and an inner, possibly stifled world, caught in this precise moment during "the third month," a Japanese lunar calendar marker. A delicate study of temporal and emotional poignancy, wouldn’t you say? Editor: Indeed, seeing art like this reminds us that aesthetic pleasure can also invite critical reflection on societal power structures and subjective emotional life. Curator: So, what began with a simple aesthetic response unveiled a world of rich complexity. I like that so much. Editor: Yes. It has shown me a new and richer vision, not only in ukiyo-e tradition, but also for us living now, still experiencing, and exploring, what it means to be seen and understood.