Two Beauties 1735 - 1790

Curator: This ink drawing is a print from the late 18th century—specifically, 1735 to 1790—by Isoda Koryūsai. It’s titled "Two Beauties" and comes to us courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum. It makes me think of whispers, somehow... Editor: Yes! There’s such a muted, conspiratorial tone. It's an intimate moment captured between these women, emphasized by their downward gazes and close physical proximity. You know, I immediately read this piece through the lens of the courtesan culture of the Edo period. How might these women navigate a society that simultaneously idealized and objectified them? Curator: Absolutely. Koryūsai was deeply embedded in that floating world or “ukiyo-e," depicting actors, courtesans, everyday life with such... grace, I think? Look at the patterning of their robes. They seem to converse in the same way, similar but just a bit different like an echoing phrase. Editor: It's a calculated mirroring. Note how their sashes, or obi, are tied differently, signifying varied status or personal expression within constrained roles. What narrative are we, as viewers, invited into? Are we being offered a glimpse of solidarity, a shared secret? Is the object they are holding a love letter perhaps, that might promise social mobility for the couple, or just one? Curator: And it's just that glimpse isn't it, just a suggestive detail in the quiet life. It is fleeting like life sometimes. Though, with prints we are lucky, their stories can be told for generations to come! I wonder what they make of the interpretations and critical speculations like ours. Editor: That's exactly the power of art, isn't it? It survives us and continues speaking, even if it is up to the viewer to be its new voice. Curator: Very true, very true. It will be quite exciting to come back to this later on.