Liefdespaar onder muskietennet c. 1789 - 1801

Editor: We’re looking at “Liefdespaar onder muskietennet,” or "Couple Under a Mosquito Net," a print, specifically a woodcut, created around 1789 to 1801 by Chōkyōsai Eiri. There's a stillness to this piece, even amidst the implied intimacy. It almost feels voyeuristic, peeking in on a private moment. How do you read this work? What aspects particularly catch your eye? Curator: Oh, my dear, this print hums with secrets! Ukiyo-e, or "pictures of the floating world" prints, are just little glimpses into the pleasures and diversions of Edo-period Japan. Forget your staid history books. This, this is *real* life. See how the mosquito net softens the light? Like a whispered promise. What about those floral patterns, those hints of color peeking from beneath the folds of fabric. Eiri isn’t just showing us bodies, he’s showing us desire, artfully concealed by conventions. And the erotic tension of showing figures, half clothed, feels intentional. Is that script a love letter abandoned mid-tryst, do you think? Editor: It does feel quite intimate, the mosquito net seems to act as a screen as well as an enclosure! And the colors are very muted, not at all what I was expecting given the subject matter. Curator: Exactly! Restraint can be ever so tantalizing. Eiri here is more poet than pornographer. He’s suggesting, hinting, leaving room for our imaginations to bloom. Think about how that challenges our own contemporary ideas of seeing and being seen, right? It’s as if he’s reminding us, even then, pleasure has layers, right? Editor: That’s fascinating; it is interesting how our perspective changes depending on cultural context. I initially thought the mood was serene but now I think I get a deeper sense of that playfulness you pointed out. Thank you for that different perspective. Curator: It’s a dance, my dear, isn’t it? We come to a piece with our expectations, and art surprises us. Which is, after all, its joy!