Print 1800 - 1865

This print was made by Utagawa Kunisada, and like other Japanese woodblock prints, it was created through a collaborative process. The artist would have begun with a drawing, which was then handed off to highly skilled wood carvers. They would carefully transfer the design onto a series of woodblocks, one for each color you see in the final print. This required an exceptional level of precision. A separate block would be needed for the black outlines, which define the forms. Once the blocks were ready, printers applied water-based inks and carefully pressed the paper onto the block to transfer the image. This process was repeated for each color, building up the image layer by layer. The registration had to be perfect in order to create a clear, crisp image. The entire process speaks to a highly organized, almost industrialized mode of production, yet one which nonetheless demanded a degree of artistry.