Muurschildering maken 1804

Curator: We're looking at "Muurschildering maken," or "Making a Mural," a woodblock print by Kitagawa Utamaro from 1804. It’s currently held in the Rijksmuseum collection. Editor: My first thought? Absolute chaos! But a delightful kind. It's got that raw energy, doesn't it? That big, crazy bird… it almost feels like it's going to jump right off the wall and into the room. Curator: Absolutely, that’s a fantastic read! The scene depicts two artists involved in creating a mural, observed by a group of women, all rendered in the ukiyo-e style popular during the Edo period. The genre often explored daily life and leisure, but I am interested in how this work speaks to notions of gendered labor in artmaking. Editor: Gendered labor? Intriguing... tell me more! I was sort of caught up in imagining what it must have been like to paint something that grand, the logistics, the mess, the collaboration. There's something almost performative about it, especially with the audience. Curator: Precisely. This is where understanding social context becomes critical. Are the women in the doorway critics, patrons, muses, or maybe laborers relegated to less glamorous parts of art production? The ukiyo-e prints often represented idealized images of women in the service industries of pleasure. Seeing them watch male artists work, brings out multiple layers of power dynamics related to who produces art, and who consumes it. Editor: You're making me think of how we always see the finished masterpiece, but rarely the sweaty palms and the underpaid hands that brought it to life. Utamaro is slyly pointing out the social ballet involved in getting a grand artwork up on the wall! Curator: Right! The print pushes us to reconsider the narratives around art, looking past the artist’s individual genius towards broader systemic relations that frame creative production and reception. Editor: I can't look at it the same way. The sheer joy is still there, but now with this undercurrent of questions and perspectives. Thanks, that was wonderfully illuminating. Curator: A pleasure. It’s always invigorating to reexamine our cultural artifacts through various theoretical frameworks and seeing their relevance.