Gathering Shellfish at Low Tide at Susaki c. 1832 - 1834

Utagawa Hiroshige created this woodblock print titled, Gathering Shellfish at Low Tide at Susaki. It is evocative of everyday life in 19th century Japan. Woodblock prints were not simply artistic expressions, but also commodities within a complex economic system. Publishers, artists, block cutters, and printers collaborated, and their work was influenced by popular taste and government regulations. Here, the figures wading in the water, their postures reflecting the labor of their task, and the attention to detail in the landscape, offer insight into the culture and geography of the time. The composition, with its careful arrangement of figures and landscape elements, speaks to established artistic conventions. Art historians consult a wide range of materials to understand such works: business records of publishers, censorship archives, as well as other artworks. This helps contextualize pieces such as this within the broader social and institutional context of its time.