Movie Actress Kurishima Sumiko Possibly 1929

Curator: I'm drawn to the soft, almost melancholic quality of this print. It feels quite intimate. Editor: We are looking at “Movie Actress Kurishima Sumiko” a woodblock print, possibly from 1929, by Yamanaka Kodō. It's part of the collection at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. I wonder, when we consider it, how its materials affect that mood you noticed? Curator: Well, look at the texture of the paper itself. It seems handmade, with visible fibers that catch the light. This texture softens the overall image, it has this gentle diffused focus to it, especially in her skin tone and that beautiful soft blue of her kimono. Editor: That soft blue! A colour that wasn't cheap back then and was likely achieved using specific dye processes. The act of woodblock printing, too, involves significant labor. Each color requires a separate block. It's fascinating to consider the intersection of craft and representation here – this wasn't just about creating a pretty picture, but showcasing skills in a complex commodity driven cultural milieu of ukiyo-e prints that reflected an explosion of Japanese cultural life as mass media came into existence. Curator: Absolutely. And it places Kurishima Sumiko within that context. As a celebrity of the era, her image was being commodified through this art form. We see how this artwork functions as a piece of mass media during the interwar era for Japan. But the slightly caricatured style almost seems at odds with the delicate process. The balance she creates is what sets her image apart from traditional Ukiyo-e ideals of female representation in print making. Editor: It’s a balance rife with tensions between production and consumption. This piece invites questions about the artistic skill involved but also the consumption of celebrity images as markers of an emerging popular culture. The materiality underscores all those complicated questions! It's a fascinating work, when we consider its production as tied to larger political and social histories. Curator: Exactly, and remembering how materials affect perception. Looking again, the intentionality behind each choice becomes all the more vivid. Editor: Yes. It shifts how we engage with both her, and the medium.