Great Victory of Our Forces in the Yellow Sea; Number Four 1894

Kobayashi Kiyochika made this woodblock print to commemorate a Japanese naval victory. The printmaking process itself is fascinating. It's not like painting, where the artist directly applies pigment. Instead, Kiyochika would have worked collaboratively with highly skilled wood carvers and printers. Each color you see here required a separate block, painstakingly carved and then carefully aligned to build up the final image. Consider the labor involved: from the initial design to the felling of trees for the blocks, the mixing of inks, and the countless impressions made. Each print is a product of collective effort, a testament to the division of labor that underpinned Japan’s modernization in the late 19th century. Even in celebrating military triumph, we can see the complex social realities embedded in the artwork's very making. This piece reminds us that art is not just about individual expression, but about the wider world of materials, making, and social context.